My poem, “Wolf,” appears in this month’s Linden Avenue Literary Journal — the January 2017 issue, no. 56.
You can read my poem here, as well as poetry and prose by Rosie DeSantis, Edinson Shane Tolley, Stephen Wack, and Diane Bonavist.
I really like the selections Linden Avenue Literary Journal makes — reading through the back issues is a treat, if you have some time to browse.
Wolves are hard to study, but via radio collar and other methods researchers are making progress. You can read about the study of wolves in Alaska’s Denali National Park here in a National Park Service report. The report shows some great photos of Denali’s wolves.
We were in Denali on vacation a couple of summers ago. The National Park Service rangers that guide groups within the park knew where the wolf packs were ranging at that point in time, and which packs had pups. We were lucky enough to spot a wolf trotting through the summer greenery, some distance from the road. My photo of her is nothing more than a blur — you have to take my word for it that we saw the wolf.
The same thing happened a few years earlier when we visited Yellowstone on summer holiday. The wolf pictures I have from that visit are slightly better, but still mostly blur, taken from the roadside when we spotted the wolves moving through the forested area.
Rangers in Yellowstone sometimes set up a high power scope in one of the park’s many pull-outs, if there is any exciting animal activity that you wouldn’t be able to see without magnification. On our visit, we stopped and stood with other tourists in line for a chance to see one of the adolescent wolves in one of the Yellowstone packs. He had played a bit with something in the grass (people in line ahead of us said) and then he settled down under a tree in a sunny meadow for a nap. So I got a great view through the ranger’s scope — but no photos.
I hope you enjoy the poem! Are you a fan of the National Parks? So far, I think we have enjoyed Yellowstone the best — for variety of easy to see big animals, geysers, and sheer beauty, it seems difficult to top Yellowstone, despite the crowds that go there in summer.
What’s your favorite, and why?
Your poem is great, and the message is timely for so many reasons. Congrats on the publication.
I’ve not experienced US National Parks too often – Yellowstone as described sound like a great visit. BC provincial parks have offered me a fair bit of joy over the years, though….
Thanks Kevin for the kind words!
I’ve not gotten any farther into BC than Vancouver and Stanley Park, which was beautiful–but hardly the more rustic unspoiled area like I’d expect from much of the provincial park system.
Thanks for the comment!