The Poetry Stash: 12Feb2024

Mountain Lion by Linda Hogan

Today’s poem is “Mountain Lion” by Linda Hogan from The Radiant Lives of Animals. The book is available for purchase here.

Mountain Lion by Linda Hogan

She lives on the dangerous side
of the clearing
in the yellow-eyed shadow of a darker fear.
We have seen each other
inside mortal dusk,
and what passed between us
was the road
ghosts travel
when they cannot rest
in the land of the terrible other.
Red spirits of hunters
walked between us
from the place where blood
goes back to its wound
before fire
before weapons.
Nothing was hidden
in our eyes.
I was the wild thing
she had learned to fear.
Her power lived
in a dream of my leaving.
It was the same way
I have looked so many times at others
in clear light
before lowering my eyes
and turning away
from what lives inside those
who have found
two worlds cannot live
inside a single vision.

Prompts:

1.	Begin with “what passed between us…”
2.	Begin with “In a dream of my leaving…”
3.	How do you define fear? What are you afraid of? What emotional/physical symptoms do you experience when you are fearful?
4.	Describe an experience when you caused someone or something to be fearful of you.
5.	What does wilderness mean to you? Explore the concept of “wild” not only from the human point-of-view, but also from the perspective of an animal such as a mountain lion, bear, moose or shark whose range includes interacting with humans.

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