Özge lena
Taxidermic Wolf
You moved to this abandoned wood long ago,
now you listen to the creaking
of the rocking chair on your veranda
where a taxidermic wolf
wearing a leash made of letters
speaks with you in the wild language
of your midnight.
Being a poet should not mean being this alone.
You both watch an electrified crack diving
through the ink of your sky,
a portal opening to a monochrome world
where all your other bodies
who chose not to write in other lives
are hunted and stuffed like wolves
mouthing a silent howl.
Being a poet should mean being this alone.
Özge Lena is an internationally published poet who appears in The London Magazine, The Madrid Review, Sontag Mag, Hunger Mountain Review, and in numerous magazines and anthologies across continents. She recently presented her poetic approach "Catapoetics: Poetry of the Catastrophe" at the International Conference on Poetry Studies, Birkbeck, University of London, following the publication of her catapoetry article in Modron Magazine, UK (2025). Her poetry has received Pushcart Prize, Editor's Choice Award, The Best Spiritual Literature Award, and Best of the Net nominations and was shortlisted for the Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition, The Plough Poetry Prize, Ralph Angel Poetry Prize, and the Black Cat Poetry Press Nature Prize.