pace silently back and forth,
in a muddy chain link pen,
crouch silently when I come near,
watch with yellow eyes.
You should roam forests,
call mates, howl at the moon.
Here you howl and pace all night.
You should be wary of people—
their slaughter of wolves,
and buffalo, Wounded Knee,
prisons with razor wire.
Two wolves huddle in their cage,
yellow eyes stare back.
George Longenecker’s poems, stories and book reviews have been published in Bryant Literary Review, Evening Street Review, Rain Taxi, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Best Short Stories from the Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction Contest and The Mountain Troubadour. His book Star Route was published by Main Street Rag.
