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“The wolves made a rush there.”
Runo 26, Kalevala
SPECTRE ON THE SENEY STRETCH
1:30 A.M.
speed outruns the headlights,
eyes sweep right, left,
look for deer eyes
yellow in the glow.
Where there’s one deer
there are more.
No other traffic.
In the distance
a big white dog
eating, bent over
in the road’s center
of rising fog.
The head rises,
pointy ears,
the tail fluffy, long.
Brake, swerve
to the shoulder.
Maintain control.
Not a dog.
A wolf.
A white spectre
more ghost than canine.
Once, at a lecture,
the wildlife biologist
for the DNR
said he has never seen
a wolf in the wild.
Hmm. This creature is mine
and mine alone. No witnesses.
Piirto, J. (2024). Spectre on the Seney Stretch. Yooper Poetry: On Experiencing Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Ann Arbor, MI: Modern History Press. Ed. Raymond Luczak. p. 62.