It began with a Black Dog who, much like the fabled little black duck – was different.
Unaccepted for his difference he sought refuge in dark places.
In time, the darkness revealed others sheltering in the shadows that drew reflections of himself.
In the belonging, he gained the strength to raise a hand above the nodding and question why suffering souls too often go unheard.
Burdened by the silence and neglect, he began to bark loudly despite those troubled by the noise.
And when backs were turned to bury all that had been found – Black Dog continued digging for all that had been lost.
Hope grew from every hand that gave purely for the giving. And so, despite colour and size and the absence of wealth, and with the friends that followed…
…Black Dog claimed a space for those who may never fit, in a world too big for most. Those who seek to move beyond minds too small.
Those who seek freedom from the relentless pace of a world spinning way too fast to catch.
Now, as the world continues to turn away from the darkness in favour of, “Have a nice days”‘ and all that’s shiny and new…
…Black Dog continues to hold a place for all that’s lost and found .
The Black Dog Project Story.
Clunk & Jam Book.
Ever wished you were a Super Hero and could save the world, but you can’t, so you’ve all but given up on yourself. Then someone tells you a story about a French tightrope walker who strings a wire between the Twin Tower buildings in New York. As her prepares to step onto the wire, he turns to his loyal companion and says;
“This is impossible – so let’s get started.”
An you string that wire across the gap between your dream and reality – and it forever holds you in your dreaming.
Then you watch a Batman movie, ‘The Dark Knight’, and the Super Hero himself succumbs to the darkness. But it is the wise words of the loyal Butler that serve to resurrect the Bat;
“Master Wayne – we must endure.”
And you slip them into your back pocket.
Poem in building ?
It is the Joker who hides behind powder and paint. Wearing boots too big to move too far and an endless grin that sucks you in. It is the night so black that brings the bat to beat some sense into a head so full it takes on the form of another.
Find in Clunk & Jam book. True story about the French tight rope walker here.
(Clunk & Jam book. All content from book freely available in Black Dog’s blog here.)
Both Clunk & Jam and Wisdoms and Rose books are now available in Fremantle Art Centre’s FOUND online store. FOUND showcases work from a range of local and Western Australian Makers. Very grateful for their warm support. Instagram @fremantleartcentre . Cover art by Stormie Mills.
Rose paste-up in Fremantle Art Centre’s FOUND.
Why didn’t the Black Dog cross the road? Because he wanted to wonder a while at the masses marching in blind faith.
Why didn’t the Black Dog cross the road? Because green’s not always right – and red’s not always wrong.
Why didn’t the Black Dog cross the road? Because he wasn’t ready to go yet.
(See also ‘Good Difference’, ‘Being Different Is No Joke’, ‘Difference Matters‘.
(Clunk & Jam book)
Army of Ink Salute .
It is these inky things that stand me up when I slip up back. Show me forward into places I wouldn’t go all by myself. Write the wrongs through poems and songs. Create picture books of what I can’t tell. Hold me in a silent vigil when I bump and stop. Slow a world too big ad fast into moments precious and still.
It is these inky things that turn the deep end into a puddle I can jump over. Fear into something I can see. Anger into rock the boat defiance (like a wee rabbit thumping its foot). Shift loneliness into along wrapped in a nice warm blanket. Shrink pain to a hurt more my size. Make difference and smallness fell like a snug old fit. Every knock a trip to somewhere new.
And when night arrives … they snuggle beneath my pillow soft like a hidden treat. Riding the rise and fall of a slumbering breath. Catching sweet dreams and soft sounds that awaken a brand new day.
(Reposted from 2010. See also, ‘Peacemakers Plot’, ‘Once Upon A Dark Time‘. All Army of Ink here. In Clunk & Jam book, 2019. Original handwriting by Mags, with a chook feather from Ruth’s farm in Yallingup, Western Australia for handmade book, ‘Rock The Boat’, 2009.)
