"If You’re Going to Look Like a Wolf They Have to Love You More Than They Fear You." by Abigail Chabitnoy

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend Support Poem-a-Day November 4, 2019   If You're Going to Look Like a Wolf They Have to Love You More Than They Fear You.   Abigail Chabitnoy

The first deer had large teeth and no horns and were not afraid. The first deer did not have enough fear for the men who needed them to survive. A woman decided to let the men eat a grandmother decided her deer shall have horns and be afraid someone's mother decided the men shall eat and shall be feared. * A man thought wolves should be used to cull the herd. And we who had been catching water dripping through stone in the homes we dug out of the earth we licked our long teeth clean               and set to work.                Copyright © 2019 by Abigail Chabitnoy. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on November 4, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets. About this Poem   "I wrote this poem early into a month-long residency at Caldera in Oregon. I'd been reading a mix of news, feminist texts, Alutiiq lore, and Barry Lopez's Of Wolves & Men, and was trying to find a way to bring these varied ways of knowing into conversation with each other and with the current social, political, and environmental crises dominating my newsfeeds. I wanted to capture the direness of the situation we're in and the need for new solutions rooted in traditional knowledge and marginalized voices, but it was also important for me that the poem maintain an air of defiance, of hope—of resilience. I want my poems to envision a path forward, not sink in overwhelming defeatism." —Abigail Chabitnoy   Abigail Chabitnoy is the author of How to Dress a Fish (Wesleyan University Press, 2019). She is a research associate for a consulting company focused on supporting tribal self-determination efforts and currently lives in Denver, Colorado. Poetry by Chabitnoy   How to Dress a Fish  (Wesleyan University Press, 2018) "Cult of the Deer Goddess" by Caylin Capra-Thomas "Self-Portrait as Semiramis" by Mary-Kim Arnold "The Eighties" by Brenda Hillman November Guest Editor: Sherwin Bitsui   Thanks to Sherwin Bitsui, author of Dissolve (Copper Canyon Press, 2018), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month's weekdays. Read a Q&A with Bitsui about his curatorial approach this month and find out more about our guest editors for the year. A culture break, a source of daily renewal...   If reading Poem-a-Day has become a meaningful part of your day, please consider supporting this free series with a donation. Your gift makes publishing Poem-a-Day possible. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit poets.org   Unsubscribe here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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