Questions for Wolf
By Shannon Quinn
Published by Thistledown Press
$12.95; ISBN 978-1-77187-058-0
Questions for Wolf is a collection of poetry in Thistledown Press's New Leaf Series. In these haunting, often savage lines, Shannon Quinn evokes not only those who have been exploited, silenced and murdered, but all women. The images are so delicate, yet complex, it is best they speak for themselves. First there are the children: 鈥測ounger girls fly by / lost in the magical history / of secondhand bikes / all tassels and pigtails ...鈥� and close by there鈥檚 鈥� 鈥� a circle of girls too young to be with boys who drive cars 鈥︹��
Then come the evils of 鈥渟parse expectations,鈥� 鈥渁 list / of inner-city mortifications / that comes with being poor and a girl.鈥� Quinn knows the drive for something better and the desire for love and attention: 鈥淏oys see you for the first time / They see you they see you they see you / gliding mid-flight / Can鈥檛 touch you / Can almost touch you.鈥�
Such vulnerability leads to ruin, and yet: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to be gentle / or wear the comfortable footwear / of common goals / or join the queue / to pull a ticket to collect on insufficient blessings.鈥� Addiction too begins with the promise of wonder, and ends with the need for 鈥渃ommerce鈥�: 鈥渕y stiletto signals are answered by the dull thud of men鈥檚 shoes.鈥�
Some images suggest contemporary violence against women. It鈥檚 easy to read Robert Picton鈥檚 crimes in the lines of The Field: 鈥淗ere lie the bodies, here the bellies聽 鈥� This is the field that was mined ...鈥�
Though such phrases beg for an emotional response, this is not romanticizing the victim. Rather, Quinn seems to speak of the dark places in all women鈥檚 experience. Here is the choice that is no contest, between leaving 鈥渢o swim / in the dark glitter of dead stars鈥� and staying 鈥渢o chase pot roasts and roses 鈥︹�� In the risk-taker鈥檚 life, blood and violence are never far away: 鈥� 鈥� bruises that faded to yellow / and left so quickly / I never knew them in their proper shade of blue,鈥� but so is ambivalence: 鈥渁nd I鈥檓 still not sure if it鈥檚 you I should have been.鈥�
If Quinn鈥檚 woman makes dangerous choices, she doesn鈥檛 dwell in regret: 鈥淎 million miles of white for the girl I meant to be.鈥� She could remember 鈥渢hat tired history of secret wishes / all the goods [she] could have been,鈥� but she doesn鈥檛. She insists on being 鈥渇ound not saved鈥� and says, 鈥淵our boat is too small for our revolution.鈥�
Quinn also claims a wordless kinship between women and animals, not only in the title poem Questions for Wolf, but in many others. (This reminds me of Greek mythology, of Jason and Medea. Jason is cerebral, while Medea represents what is wild, instinctive and of the flesh). The metaphor is painful, as in 鈥� 鈥� our ferocity 鈥� learning to sit with begging thoughts,鈥� but this animalism also gives Quinn鈥檚 woman the power to survive: 鈥淏ut oh look at you now / nostrils flaring / chuffing your breath.鈥� So ultimately, paradoxically, there is hope.
This book is available at your local bookstore or from www.skbooks.com.
