Massacre in the Bitterroot Mountains

by Floyd D. Anderson / June 20th, 2021

five newly born wolf pups
eagerly suckle sweet milk
from their mother’s teats
a helicopter hovers overhead
suddenly a machine gun roars
ratatatat!
ratatatat!
ratatatat!
flocks of disquieted birds
nesting in nearby trees
take to startled wing
as the dying she wolf and her pups
whimper, yelp and yowl
their blood seeps onto the ground
staining it chokecherry red
the woeful howling of the wind
is the EARTH MOTHER weeping

Floyd D. Anderson lives in Brockport, New York, and can be reached at floydsroom@hotmail.com. Read other articles by Floyd D..

This article was posted on Sunday, June 20th, 2021 at 8:04am and is filed under Poetry.