There are questions of truth and falsehood in the external social world, and there are questions in our more personal or internal worlds. Are we dogs or wolves, companions or predators, and do we even know, are we both? “Dog or Wolf” is the title poem of Bill Schulz’s new book. It gives us the image of one in captivity pacing, circling among all these questions and not willing to end on any easy answer. His second poem “True Story” maybe raises the question about what a true story is—literally it may not be true, but figuratively? It’s quite possibly as true as any. We might ask, who is the “you” in these poems? I will leave that to the reader to answer.
Bill Schulz is a Maine-based poet, editor, and artist. He holds a Master’s in English from the poetry workshop at The University of New Hampshire and earned a Master’s in Theological Studies from The Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley, California, thirty years later. His recent book, Dog or Wolf, was published in 2022 by Nine Mile Press. He is the founder and editor of Hole In The Head Review.
—Betsy Sholl, Maine Arts Journal Poetry Editor
Dog or Wolf
(12.24.16)
alone myself
my game
my room
my nurse
and dark wall
phone
my corridor
alone
walked counting
to locked
doors
circling
again again
again
am I
invisible
man vomiting
a ghost or
shadow
dog or
wolf
you will
never
know
never
and I
will never tell
Bill Schulz, Spoils 2, 20 x 20 in.
True Story
I was playing
basketball
leaped
and
didn’t
come
down
levitation
is easy
when
you
don’t try
and when
I called
to you
back
on
solid
ground
you
looked up
then
tried
to pull
me
down
one
last
time
Image at top: Bill Schulz, Spoils of War 3, acrylic on canvas, 22 x 28 in.