Tonight's Poet Corner: Tracks
Tracks by Belinda Roddie He lights a match and sniffs the flame, tempted to taste it, to scald his tongue and turn it into a poor man's torch as he scans for tracks. The search party is seven people. They are all cold, thirsty, and exhausted. The dogs are restless. One pulls pleadingly against its tired leather lead. Another, baring sharp fangs but rotten molars, whines loudly enough to drop a globule of mucus onto the pine-mixed snow. Its eyes are listless amber, ready to catch evening insects and encase them for a thousand more years. At least, it'll feel like a thousand before they can all go home. When the group disperses, one girl stays with her mother. Both wear heavy coats, their boots dragging across the unwelcoming winter sludge. It has not snowed much this year. Water levels will be low. The missing will not have much to drink tonight, scrounging in the wilderness with a broken stick. Scratching for a hint of sustenance. And then it ge