Response to a Poem

I chose to analyze the poem Windigo by Louise Erdrich. Poetry is not something I consider a strong suit of mine for reading. I admit I had to read it two times to figure out who was speaking and if it was a monster or a person. I believe it could be a hairy, furry wild person, a mountain man of sorts.

I appreciated the descriptive words used by the voice of the creature. “Towels flapped on the hooks, and the dog crept off” makes me picture a strong breeze coming in and the towels moving, and it had enough of a strange or difference in the breeze to scare the dog (Windigo, first verse, third line). It could have been the scent of the creature coming towards the dog and making it feel it had best go and hide.

When the creature approaches the house the child must know who it is because food was ready and the child was being called to eat, but instead it didn’t go. The creature urged the child to “hide and lie still (Windigo, second verse, fifth line).

The creature takes a child from its home but has no intention of harming it. It only wants to keep it for the night. For companionship or warmth? It made me wonder what the relationship was, and if it’s a person turned wild that lives in wilderness. What happened to make them run, and why does the child not flee? Does the creature resemble an animal more to not scream and run away?

This poem, once I read it a couple of times, let me use my imagination and with the descriptive words and phrases it made it easy for me to create a mental picture in my head of the backyard, the weather conditions, and even of the creature. I still wonder though, who is this creature?

Windigo. 9/11. Erdrich, Louise. Blackboard Poetry link.
Photo- Courtesy of Paul Emmel. http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/2905/Louise_Erdrich/index.aspx