February 8: Allusions to Dante, Very Dark Place, Vote

There's a lot of allusions to Dante's Inferno in the poem below.  Its title is taken from the first lines of the book, where Dante finds himself lost, alone in a dark wood, in the middle of life.

I sort of feel like that this evening.  Lost, alone in a very dark place.

Alone in a Dark Wood

by:  Martin Achatz

The night roosts like a murder
Of crows in the November jack pines.
I stare into the moonless void.
In the bracken, something watches.
I feel its eyes on my face,
Imagine it crouched in the grass,
Chuffing frost.  If I lunge, I could
Crush it against my chest.  If I stand still,
It could disappear in the midnight fog.
I hear movement, like the whisper of ant legs,
A slender, black icicle of sound.  I listen
For more, a car or the wind or the whine
Of a bear cub.  Where is Virgil to guide me
Away from the dark gaze
Of this skunk or fox or she-wolf?
Where is his dim hand to hold,
His voice, distant as the stars,
Commanding, "Follow," leading
Through this wood where Beatrice
Has abandoned me, alone and wounded?
I listen again.  An owl wails.
A rabbit darts to dirt and roots.

Please vote for Saint Marty (Marty Achatz) for 2019/2020 Poet Laureate of the Upper Peninsula at the link below:

Vote for 2019/2020 Poet Laureate of the Upper Peninsula