(x = space)
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Wolf Gang
(winter song)
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Up and down
The streets at night
Back and forth
Across the city
We go for what we want
We don’t care about
The human race
Except as a resource
For the things
We need
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It’s winter time,
Our favorite time
We take what we need
You could wish
For a gang as this
Keep wishing
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We owe no one anything
We take what
Evolution dictates
Our strength
Is a number, only
Each of us
Would rather be alone
As our howl sings
At the break of day
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We are wolves
We are alone
We haunt
The human mind
We break apart
To make each one
A scoundrel of the day
Then we sleep
We sleep long hours
Then when
The weakling day is done
We wake up to
The power of night
And
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And none of this
Is true
We are families
And our power’s for
Our children
And the pack
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We mate for life
We do not wander
Unless the food is far away
You might fear us
We need our teeth and jowls
And a howl that sings
We know you’re there
We sing
To each other
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What we want
Is life together
You ruin all our seasons
In the land
Sometimes
When you can’t hear,
We also cry to Earth
To punish you
And save us
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C L Couch
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This is a response to a prompt: https://wyrdwordsandeffigies.wordpress.com/2021/01/17/write-yourself-awake-wyrd-creative-writing-prompts/. Katie writes fantastically about winter and folklore, self-awareness and the growth of self. The prompt is for the season, and there are many good cues there from which to choose. An opportunity to express (and thus enhance) creative health in winter.
https://wyrdwordsandeffigies.wordpress.com/
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Photo by Chris Henry on Unsplash
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clcouch123 
January 24, 2021 at 6:34 pm
Ah nice. I got to meet with the guy studying wolves on Isle Royale a couple years ago–research for my novel in stories, Seasonal Roads. It was interesting. They were dying out on the island. Down to something like six sickly wolves. It was a natural habitat and had never been messed with by us, and it was a big controversy whether it should be managed and new wolves introduced. And if so, should they try to get them to mate with the existing pack (wolves don’t like to mate with sickly animals) or introduce a whole pack or two. They decided to do that. Introduce healthy pack, I’m not sure how many. Which I guess is ok, but it can no longer be studied in the same way. I imagine you use them as metaphor here, but I always have wolves and dogs in my work. Close evolutionary ties, I suspect. I use them as symbols and metaphors all the time and am fascinated by them. Happy Sunday.
January 24, 2021 at 10:12 pm
Thanks for your thoughtful and informative response. I did learn something about wolves from a study, and I recall it was in Michigan, so maybe it’s the study you describe. I can only hope all the wolves on the island are doing well. The wolves are metaphors, but they’re also wolves. When I was looking for an illustration, I saw dog faces in the wolf faces I came across. I think they’re close. I admire your use of wolves. I hope you have a good, new week.
January 24, 2021 at 9:22 pm
I enjoyed this one very much. I think the most of all of your recent poems. The way you flip it on it’s head and wrong-foot the reader is very skillfully done.
January 24, 2021 at 10:04 pm
Thank you! I like thinking about wolves and winter and such. And I know that people misunderstand the wolf. Your affirming the turn in the poem is both a relief and comfort.
January 25, 2021 at 9:42 am
The wolf has been the bogey for more than a thousand years. I wonder if the first animal to be domesticated was the wolf so that man could have a bunch of Quislings on his side.
January 27, 2021 at 4:36 pm
Maybe so. They were willing to be around us, and we made some into dogs and the rest into villains.
January 27, 2021 at 5:39 pm
Yes, change to suit and serve or be outlawed.