Timberwolf

Seven hundred miles

between sand and snow

Frozen splinters on the windows

A man in a truck

A man unforgiving

The rattling thermos

Guardrails turn to mush

Winding turbine pythons

A man spitting black paste

Into a dixie cup

He decides who will breathe

and who will be left in the snow

For their final forgiveness

A man with nine silver teeth

A man waiting for the wolves

When she sees the blinking headlights

She drops her thumb

Howling winds whip

She tries to breathe

Though the breath has already left her

A man offering a warm cup

As the wolves descend