Less than a month ago, six wolves, as if conjured by the wind into Moffat County in the far and remote northwest in Colorado, have been detected by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The discovery of tracks and a wild animal carcass were followed by tests and estimates. Wolves have not been seen here for nearly ninety years. A bill to re-introduce the Grey Wolf to the state by 2025 aiming to counterbalance a long history of eradication will be heard this year. It is a challenging scenario given the rise in ranches and livestock in the area. But the emergence of these six scouts is significant. They are as a self-determined love unto the world and they will not wait for us to be ready. Poem: the wolves, the love that is follows:
the wolves, the love that is ©2020 vincent hostak As the love long absent from the far corner of the heart they gather by the crossing, the Yampa and the Little Snake. A speckling of fur inking the canvas as if drawn there by wind or birdsong. Leaping with a love for their own shadows- the only reflection a nearly colorless season can offer. They follow the blood of the landscape. Bowing, they drink from small ice breaks, carve saucers in the river that grow to bowls in their steaming breath- the hastening of heat in the coldest region of the heart. Untroubled snowpack for miles, empty as a starless sky then chiseled by the chase of twenty-four paws- tender tread- the first of new constellations waiting to be discovered before the next snow.
Wild, Abandoned: 2021 