Dog Speak
A Satirical Poem
With no one to talk to,
at an unearthly hour,
I start talking to my dog
Curled up
At the foot of my bed
I knew he would listen intently
And reply in dog-speak
Which frankly I don’t understand
Only later did I realise
I was simply talking
To its butt end
That snored intermittently
In response
And I laughed
Not at myself
But at the memory of conversations
With certain people
I routinely have
Where only they talk
And I am the dog
Watching them regurgitate
whatever they were fed
at their feeding spots
Makes me wonder
Which orifice of theirs
Is delivering their talk
© Shashikant Dudhgaonkar
With unsolicited inspirational assistance from Marco, my pet dog, who motivates me to take daily walks.
About the poem
Dog Speak begins with a humorous domestic moment and gradually evolves into a satire on propaganda, conditioned speech and conversations that have ceased to be genuine exchanges. Through the innocent presence of a sleeping dog, the poem explores how borrowed opinions are repeated, often without reflection, until dialogue itself becomes impossible.
Rather than naming any individual, ideology or nation, the poem invites readers to recognise a universal human tendency to mistake repetition for thought and performance for conversation.
I found this satirical poem delightful and profound.
Thanks a lot