Margaret Atwood

Short Takes on Wolves
by Margaret Atwood

i.

A wolf in pain
admits nothing.
His dinner bit him.
It was a miscalculation,
and now it will be a disaster.
You can’t go far with a ripped foot:
among wolves, no doctors.

ii.

A wolf is courteous up to a point.
You have to watch their ears.
Forward, they’re willing to listen.
Back, you’ve bored them.

iii.

Sit in the dark. Keep quiet.
Don’t light that cigarette
or smear on the blackfly goo.
It’s not a speed-dating venue.
It’s not a zoo.
You want to see the wolf
or demand your money back,
but the wolf doesn’t want to see you.

iv.

Wolf nightmares involve cars,
long needles, iron muzzles,
cramped cages with hard bars,
creatures who smell like you.
Wolf happy dreams, on the other hand,
are of endless taiga,
dens dug under stones,
limping and stupid caribou,
their tender bones.

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Margaret Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian writer, known for her poetry, novels, and literary criticism, among other work.