The Friday Poem

A poem every Friday

The Friday Poem on 23/07/21

We chose ‘Lone Wolf’ by Anthony Wilson for The Friday Poem because it manages, in eight short couplets, to take us by the hand, lead us to the edge of the glow of the camp fire and make us look out into the darkness beyond. Wilson knows where to tell it slant and where to tell it straight. It’s not an easy poem to read, but it is an arresting and accomplished one.

Lone Wolf

The rain is a lost child
wandering the zoo

at midnight
with only wolves for company.

At dawn they slink
back inside –

the light
has nothing to teach them.

The rain is not bothered.
A wet wolf

is a wet hyena
is a child crying.

The new anguish
is just like the old anguish.

It’s just as raw
but with a much better sound system.

Anthony Wilson is a poet, writing tutor and lecturer at the University of Exeter. His most recent books are The Afterlife (Worple Press, 2019) and Deck Shoes, a collection of essays (Impress Books, 2019). He is also the author of Riddance (Worple Press, 2012), Full Stretch: Poems 1996-2006 (Worple Press, 2006), Nowhere Better Than This (Worple Press, 2002) and How Far From Here is Home? (Stride, 1996). His prose memoir of cancer, Love for Now (Impress Books), was published in 2012. In 2015 he published Lifesaving Poems (Bloodaxe Books), after his blog  of the same name. Anthony Wilson’s blog is here.

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