Gianna Woods

The last wolf hurried toward me
Through the ruined city
And I heard his baying echoes
Down the steep, smashed warrens
Of Montgomery Street and past
The few ruby-crowned highrises
Left standing
Their lighted elevators useless
 
Passing the flickering red and green
Of traffic signals
Baying his way eastward
In the mystery of his wild loping gait
Closer the sounds in the deadly night
Through clutter and rubble of quiet blocks
I heard his voice ascending the hill
And at last, his low whine as he came
Floor by empty floor to the room
Where I sat
In my narrow bed looking west, waiting
 
I heard him snuffle at the door and
I watched
He trotted across the floor
He laid his long, grey muzzle
On the spare white spread
And his eyes burned yellow
His small, dotted eyebrows quivered
 
Yes, I said
I know what they have done
 

Gianna Woods is 17 years old and attends Southeast High School. Her poem “The Last Wolf” won second place in the 2022 Manatee Libraries and 805 Teen Poetry Contest.