Wolfman

[BobBradshaw]

Wolfman

I wear a fur coat as thick
as a cossack's,
my voice strangled by howls,
my nails bent like claws.

At night I crouch in the ferns
instead of leaning into your arms,

the village torches
scanning the bushes,
the vigilantes' guns
hunting shadows.

How could I have prevented, darling,
my double life, respected
doctor during the day,
a beast at night?

Was I destined from birth
to live a secret life--
or was I cursed the minute
a werewolf bit me
to a life of running?

How could I not abandon
hope of family?
More and more
I feared a gesture, a look
would give me away
--to my patients, to your parents--

my hearing and scent
so sensitive I was exhausted
by day's end...the urge
to smell earth and forest
overwhelming--

For months I longed to curl up
inside an abandoned hole.
But now the change is done.
Nearly everything amazes me:

the thick scent of foliage,
the loping strides
of a pack,
the beards of grass
hanging on the cliffs...

Yet when I watch you,
a loneliness dragging along
with you like heavy shoes at dusk

I regret our separation,
our differences...it's as if we live
on separate banks
of a river in flood, a crossing
too dangerous, crazy
to ponder.

[Kenneth2816]

Yes. Reminds me of your Frankenstein poem. Well done persona

[BobBradshaw]

Thanks, Ken

[Michael (MV)]

Hi Bob,

Another accomplished, engaging persona-poem, which, as usual, appealed to me. This one accommodates a Blakean reading - songs of innocence/songs of experience - by way of a subtle Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde allusion, and without crowding the csnvas.


Consider these realignments:

1/
Leaning into your arms, when night
falls - that's where I long to belong -
instead I'm crouched in the ferns,

the village torches
scanning the bushes,
the vigilantes' guns
hunting shadows.


2/ More and more I feared
a gesture, a look would
give me away




Michael (MV)

[RamanathanSiva]

Bob
I like how the poem takes a turn after

How could I have prevented, darling,
my double life, respected
doctor during the day,
a beast at night?

And you have carried it well.
Siva

[BobBradshaw]

Thx for the kind words, guys...

[Billy]

Entertaining and witty. I remember reading how wolf man is a metaphor for being a teenager: you voice changes, hair grows everywhere, your hormones going crazy.

[BobBradshaw]

Michael, I have revised the poem to use your verb "scanning". Thx again