This piece was inspired by a book by Barry Lopez called of Wolves and Men. One of the most captivating, ugly truths of a book, I’ve every read. My apologies and respect to anything I may mispronounce.
Wolf
Mirror mirror on the wall
Who’s the wickedest of them all?
From antiquity to modernity
I’ve been blamed mercilessly
From Aesop to Lancelot
the hooded red death is all I got
I was summed up in a story
all wolves are heresy
the dogma ironically
caused a ton of trauma
Mirror mirror on the wall
Who is the heinous of them all?
I’m the GOAT of all scapegoats
men’s ego scrapin' gloat
their self-hatred hung
my throat to an oak
annihilation fully soaked
while mutilation took some notes
I awoke as this bizarre avatar
Let me tell you about the journey so far
While some insidious men
projected their evil on me
The indigenous men
respected my mystery
To him I was a brother
To her I was a mother
Wolf People and their Nation
Wolf’s Sleeve, Apache
Mad Wolf, Seminole,
Wolf Eyes, Hidatsa
Wolf Lying Down, Kiowa
High Wolf, Lakota
Nez perce brought Yellow Wolf
Woman Who Lived with Wolves, Sioux
Wolf Goes to Drink,
Wolf Chaser,
Wolf Bear,
All of Crow
Eventho' they all saw the balance I brought
Eventho' they all caught the wisdom I taught
Eventho' they all felt the magic I tossed
Like me,
those humans were crossed
out of existence
out of history
far from our collective memory
Mirror mirror on the wall
Who’s the vicious of them all?
Why do the new humans
still believe they are separate?
Still cuttin’ trees indefinite?
Why do the new humans
sow the seeds of violence
never bleed like hypocrites
never see what’s exquisite
When will they admit
that their favorite’s counterfeit?
On this Hallow’s eve
can they at least submit
to the universal spirit?
Oh pretty please?
I’m afraid
After the last benefit is split
As the last river calls it quits
And as the last moon fades to darkness
No Howl no how
No amount of money
will help them remember it
Mirror mirror on the wall
See me… the wickedest of them all