Wolf Contest Poetry Winners

Poem a month challenge 2026 ~ Photo/drawing credit "anonymous", Wolf Contest Poem

Thanks, everyone, for your great entries. I couldn't decide who won the wolf contest. So another group member made the decision. All others receive honorable mention.

Her first choice is: JennLee Sawatzky

Second choice is: Jenny Wettersten

The third choice is: Shelly Chase

 JennLee Sawatzky ~ 1–07–2026, 

~ Wild One's ~

Wandering with bright shining eyes,

Full of mystery, knowledge, and surprise…

The lessons contained within all the lines,

Each hair grown slowly through life's confines.

Stepping out alone with a strong forward paw,

Choosing freedom in life, no matter how raw.

The wild wolf howling its voice deep down,

Some hearing its call throughout the town.

With a jaw closed, calm, yet ready to bite,

Knowing when to growl~when the timing is right.

This is when the wolf knows it has found its way,

When it no longer waits for the next rise of the day.

The wild wolf takes life, an runs through the trees,

Into the darkness with eyes shining brightly, it sees…

Only one strong enough to hook its gaze,

Could ever tame a wild one's internal craze.

From the clan of the wolf combined with the Bear,

The protectors of the medicine is sacred yet rare…

We are born of the blood that runs ever deeper,

Within the eyes and the spirit of the flame keeper.

~

Jenny Wettersten ~ January 8 at 10:07 PM 

Ma' iingan (Ojibwe word for wolf)

A pup ready to fetch?

What I see

Is our history.

Ma' iingan.

Almost gone.

European men tried to erase

All large predators from this space.

Let's exterminate our brothers who survive on deer.

Perhaps we ought to first look in the mirror.

We've driven many species to extinction.

My, what a shameful distinction.

Sometimes for fur, feathers, or tusks.

With the wolf, I wonder, is it their reflection of us?

Was the competition too tough?

The fragile male ego had enough.

A bounty was in place

On that beautiful face.

Trapped, snared, poisoned, and shot.

The settlers wanted to dispatch the entire lot.

Aerial hunting drove their numbers down to a few hundred or so.

They hid out in the border lakes region, always on the go.

But brother wolf caught on in less than one year.

As a plane approached, they would cock an ear.

Off the ice they'd run, taking shelter in the woods.

Thus, they survived, outsmarting the dudes.

Now we are better at understanding nature's balance.

However, in the eyes of some, wolves retain a negative valence.

"Government poodles," [yup!]

"Shoot, shovel, and shut up!"

Statements I still hear,

Especially when someone doesn't get his deer.

The wolf is neither saint nor sinner,

Says L. David Mech, over dinner.

Wolves are sentient beings with a right to exist.

They are a sight to behold, standing in the mist.

The balance of the ecosystem depends on wolves for sure.

Just look at what Isle Royale has had to endure.

Brother wolf –

· For your pups, you are givers.

· You do not pollute rivers.

· You look after your mate.

· You do not discriminate.

· You sometimes eat blueberries.

· You do not bomb other countries.

· You don't use A.I., no hyperdata centers.

· You don't go to Florida; you tough out the winters.

· May you continue to howl.

· May you continue to prowl.

I hope mankind will see the light as Leopold did.

The wolf is not someone with which to be rid.

~

Shelly Chase ~ January 6 at 1:01 PM 

The night call

Awake and alert in the dead of night

Sleep is over, and my body turns to wandering

I open the door and greet the trees frosted with glitter

Shining back at me in the moonlight

The air so crisp and fresh

Silence as still as the tree trunk in winter's cold greets my ears

A howl disrupts my silence

A pack of wolves, or coyotes, across the lake

Hunting, laughing, lonely- I cannot tell

I am comforted knowing they are in the woods, the keepers of the night!