By Douglas J. Lanzo
Golden brown eyes
as fierce as the glaciered mountains
scan steep valleys
descending into storm-tossed seas
piercing through crystals
streamed by hurricane-force winds
released by fisted clouds
obliterating all traces of sunlight.
Driven by meows of hunger
from kittens intensified
by echoes of frozen rock,
she suffers the elements,
her tawny fur silvering in
the blistering mountain storm.
Tracking movement,
her eyes alight upon a young guanaco
struggling to keep pace
with its mother,
as their toe-cleft hooves
negotiate deepening snow drifts.
Lowering her tensed body,
she stealthily tracks toward the pair
on padded feet,
retracting ice-sharp claws.
Deftly bounding over
evergreen shrubs and
tumbled granite rocks
hewn by receded glaciers,
she increases her pace,
eliciting a startled, high-pitched
bleat from the guanaco’s mother.
The race begun,
she hits full stride,
locking in on the agile youth,
hurtling in bounded strides
down bouldered mountainside.
Accelerating, her lithe body pulses
with each lengthened stride,
as she strives her utmost
to close the rugged gap.
At full stride
just meters away,
she angles to its side
and springs to seal its fate.
Leaping onto the guanaco,
she claws into its back
as it bucks furiously —
continuing to stride.
Thrown off its side,
she digs hard into the earth
thrusting herself forward,
regaining momentum.
Zig-zagging with the youth,
she mounts a sidewise leap
with extreme force,
just as it turns that way.
Thrown off balance,
the guanaco tumbles
to the ground, stripping brush
as its body rolls uncontrollably.
Clawing into the guanaco’s back,
her jaws strain to its neck
and make one razored bite,
shattering its trachea —
leaving the guanaco breathless.
Two, snow-pelted hours later,
she returns to a warm den,
with the body of a guanaco
clenched in her jaws,
to the eager meows
of four hungry kittens.
Doug is an award-winning American author whose Newbery-nominated debut novel, The Year of the Bear, won the 2023 Ames Award for Best Young Adult Books and whose second book, I Have Lived, was named Best Novella of 2024 at the American Book Fest Awards. Doug’s poetry recently won 3rd place in Voice & Virtue’s 2025 Poetry Manuscript competition and has been published in 84 literary journals and anthologies and two books in the U.S., Canada, Caribbean, England, Wales, Austria, Mauritius, India, Japan and Australia. He and his award-winning haiku poet twin sons enjoy nature, fishing, tennis, snorkeling and hiking. His Author’s website is at www.douglaslanzo.com.
Academy of the Heart And Mind 