Thursday, April 21, 2011

Red

One of my PSN friends and I are doing "prompt poems". We send each other words or phrases, and send back the poems they inspire.

This one was actually from a prompt I sent her: "wolf status". She sent me a lovely poem in reply, describing wolves singing in the boreal forest. But it got me thinking along somewhat different lines, and here's the result.


He's a high-status wolf, this one
lounging beside the path:
diamond stud in his right ear
gold ring in his left,
a brocade waistcoat,
and spats on his hind paws.
A real dandy. And he's coming on to me,
asking where I'm from,
how old I am,
and where I'm going --
all the usual wolf questions.

"Grandma's house," I say,
not wanting to admit it's to the Mall.
But this wolf is having none of it.
"You look lonely," he says.
He wags his tail like a big dog,
cocks an ear. "Take me with you?"
"No way," I tell him. I'm not having
anything to do with these wolves.
Everyone knows how that ends.

But I feel his eyes follow
my red cape through the forest.
I remember his amber eyes,
his silky ears. I know
tonight he'll end up in my bed.

I'll call it rape, and show the scratches.
But no one will believe me.
He's just that classy.

5 comments:

JJM said...

Excellent.

--J.J. Markin

Mantelli said...

I can just hear that silky voice. Sigh.

Barbara Weitbrecht said...

blinks

Someone's reading?

JJM said...

"Someone's reading?"

Duhuh. Silly seal.

Kathie said...

Powerful.