December 2024

The year has dwindled down to days. How do we not tote up our gains and losses, our quotidian triumphs and catastrophes? How do we not wonder which will fade and which will remain as we sidle into the unknown wilds of 2025?

Coyotes

by Cammy Thomas

bent on prey

sidle into the woods

near my house

soundless indifferent

gray among grasses

what have they taken

from me at the edge

of the field what

part of me stays

with them in the brush

Cammy Thomas’s most recent book is Odysseus’ Daughter (Parkman Press, 2023), poems written in response to the Odyssey. Three previous poetry collections were published by Four Way Books. Cathedral of Wish received the Norma Farber First Book Award from the Poetry Society of America. Tremors received 2022 Poetry Honors from the Mass Book Awards. She teaches literature to adults and lives near Boston. “Coyotes” originally appeared in Flush Left (Indolent Books). www.cammythomas.com.