What Wolves Read

The posture of packmates:
ears, tail, stance, glance.

Traces of prospective prey:
spoor, scent, scuffle, scratch.

Paths to the spirit world:
wind, water, wolf star, moon.

When a path opens, they howl
at wraiths they cannot touch:

lost ancestors loping soundless
across a shadow grassland

cowboys slouched in the saddle,
women with babies on their back

and buffalo, unnumbered buffalo,
broad-backed, bounteous, toothsome

huge herds flowing like rivers
to some far and sundered sea.

back to issue

Mary Soon Lee was born and raised in London, but has lived in Pittsburgh for thirty years. She is a Grand Master of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association, and three-time winner of both the AnLab Readers' Award and the Rhysling Award. Her latest poetry book, "How to Navigate Our Universe," answers vexing questions such as "How to Surprise Saturn" and "How to Survive a Black Hole." She hides her online presence with a cryptically named website (marysoonlee.com and an equally cryptic Twitter account (@MarySoonLee).