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in collection
The Alternative Version, 2001
The Frogmore Press ,
ISBN
0 9531383 9 9
An Alternative Version
Now,
when they ask for the story
of
how I escaped the Patagonian wolf,
I
can almost hear it howl,
can
almost believe the story true.
I
am in a cabin, in the snow, and the wolf,
teeth
bared, is at the window,
a
terrifying shadow against the globe
of
a full moon.
And
I am the man who once
trod
the boards of provincial stages,
enjoyed
a lengthy interlude
on
the continent of Europe,
explored
the landscape of Bohemia
in
London's least desirable postcodes,
scored
a memorable century,
climbed
every Munro in a summer;
or,
alternatively, passed through
school
and college in a daze,
drifted,
toiled, fetched up
in
middle age complete with mortgage,
wife,
kids, a job and the responsibility
they
demand.
In
Patagonia, the hotel is comfortable.
My
room looks out on the main street.
Wolves
live in some other version
of
this place.
The
man on the bed,
staring
up at the ceiling,
is
me; or someone
strangely
like him.
Jeremy Page
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