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17 pages 34 minutes read

Mary TallMountain

The Last Wolf

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1995

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Further Reading & Resources

Related Poems

Soogha” by Mary TallMountain (1991)

Poems written by Mary TallMountain can be difficult to find on reputable online sources. For instance, the Academy of American Poets and the Poetry Foundation do not include any poems by TallMountain, nor her mentor, the more well-known poet Paula Gunn Allen. However, on TallMountain’s publisher’s website, an excerpt from the book Until We Are Strong Together: Women Writers in the Tenderloin features one of her poems. “Soogha” is about Bernie, the “eldest brother” (Line 1) TallMountain never met, as well the role of men in Koyukon culture. As in “The Last Wolf,” the Koyukon language plays an important role. Soogha is the word for brother in the Koyukon language. Furthermore, in Line 14, “people sang thirteen Koyukon songs” (Line 14), emphasizing the orality of this indigenous dialect.

The Return” by Paula Allen Gunn (1980)

As mentioned above, Paula Allen Gunn’s works are difficult to locate online. “The Return” can be seen in a preview of The American Indian Culture and Research Journal, Volume 4, Issue 4. Like “The Last Wolf,” this poem is set in San Francisco, as noted in the epigraph of the poem. The iconic hills of San Francisco once again emerge from a more naturalist diorama, with the actions of wheeling birds and their songs replacing the wandering wolf of “The Last Wolf.” The “kept fires” (Line 26) of a domestic winter in the city contrast the “ruby-crowned” (Line 6) structures of TallMountain’s poem, both as burning structures and as tall buildings first illuminated by the reddish tones of sunset.

Creation Story” by Paula Allen Gunn (1980)

“Creation Story” is also featured in The American Indian Culture and Research Journal. Unlike the former, this poem deals with a creation myth, redescribed in poetic terms of the Native American Renaissance. The vivid contrast of origin myth and post-apocalyptic San Francisco as desolate spaces inhabited by few, female-identifying beings give further depth to both poems. The auditory and visual qualities of “Creation Story” also parallel “The Last Wolf” in several ways: the overheard singing of those heralding the beginning of the world and the tracks of the deer that conclude the work are just two examples. The way “Creation Story” makes use of enjambment is also similar; it is also without meter, and with inconsistent line lengths splitting and diversifying readable implications.

Further Literary Resources

WE ARE THE INBETWEENS: An Interview with Mary Tallmountain [sic]” by Joseph W. Bruchac and Mary TallMountain (1989)

This interview appeared in Studies in American Indian Literatures, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 13–21. In dialogue with Bruchac, TallMountain discusses the themes of “The Last Wolf,” other poems, and her writing in general. She also touches on topics such as her family, employment, and spiritual beliefs.

This article is from ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 136-154. Welford includes a few of TallMountain’s poems in their entirety, making this article a valuable resource. Her analysis of these poems is complemented with information about TallMountain’s life experiences that provide biographical context for reading her poetry.

"About the TallMountain Circle" by Freedom Voices

Freedom Voices, Mary TallMountain’s publisher, hosts this useful description of the poet and her legacy, The TallMountain Circle. The website also has discussion pages on her works and the works of other liberatory writers. The Freedom Voices site also hosts active forums and resources useful for anyone exploring modern Indigenous poetry.

The Tenderloin District of San Francisco has come to be defined by homelessness, and this resource, like TallMountain herself, actively campaigns for the welfare of the unhoused, including in the Tenderloin. Freedom Voices is affiliated with the Tenderloin Reflection and Education Center, and the Tenderloin Women Writers Workshop, which TallMountain co-founded and facilitated.

"Koyukon Athabaskan Language Collection" from the University of Alaska Fairbanks

Part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’s online materials, this collection has a variety of works in Koyukon, including Indigenous Calendars, English-Translation dictionaries, and primary research materials collected both recently and during the early 20th century. The “History of Research” section gives particular insight into the relationship between missionaries and academics and the indigenous peoples of Alaska, which is of immediate importance to the problems of cultural destruction illustrated by “The Last Wolf.”

"Languages: Koyukon" from the University of Alaska Fairbanks

Part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’s extensive materials on indigenous people of Alaska, this page gives regional details about the Koyukon culture. Of particular note are the expressions in Koyukon, which offer examples of the phonetic quality of the Koyukon language, as well as the other regional dialects of pre-Colonial Alaska.

The Company of Wolves” by Angela Carter (1979)

This short story is from the award-winning anthology The Bloody Chamber, which features several permutations of classic fairy tales. “The Company of Wolves,” in particular, has a striking final image of the Red Riding Hood-equivalent, having seduced the Wolf, lying in bed with him. This parallels the similarly striking imagery of “The Last Wolf,” as does the poem and the short story’s commonality of tracking the progress of the wolf through a space of desolation. Angela Carter’s writing comes from an earlier feminist tradition that contrasts and complements Mary TallMountain’s, when the two works are considered together.

Listen to Poem

This video is part of the American Poem video series for Poets & Writers. Shortly after the 12-minute mark (at 12:14), American poet and educator Joseph Fasano recites some lines of poetry by Mary TallMountain. He also reads poetry by other Alaskan poets, such as John Haines and Olena Kalytiak Davis.

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