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The Wolf in Me – “One Year Later…”

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Hi there! 🙂

It has been a year to the day since my first novel, The Wolf In Me, was first published – and to mark the occasion, I thought that it would be fun to draw a sketch of my novel’s protagonist, Olivia Hunter, and also to the continue her story, in a way, in the form of a short journal entry that she would have written one year after the events that took place in the story that I wrote about her life and her struggle with finding her identity while also blessed with the gift/the curse of becoming a werewolf. The Wolf In Me is essentially a story about someone going through an extreme existential identity-crisis, you could say? However, it is also a story about survival, about loss, about actions and consequences, about spirit, and about holding on to and using the strength of your mind, your body, and your soul to overcome any and all of the testing situations that we all find ourselves in from time to time.

So, here is Olivia’s short journal entry, “One Year Later…”: *spoilers ahead for The Wolf In Me*

Happy The Wolf In Me Day! 🙂

-Mark

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My Poem “Woodland”

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You haven’t lived until you have been
up close to the flora and the fauna of a forest…
You have never breathed true fresh air
until you have walked through a paradise
of green parkland during the summer months…
You have never felt as blessed as me
until you have shared precious moments
with the one you love in peaceful solitude –
watching hummingbirds feed during the daylight,
or witnessing the lightning bugs
illuminate the darkness as they dance
through the air under the stars of night…
The face of nature is breathtaking…
I have seen sights beyond imagining…
As I have lived I have experienced things
that are like a time-capsule
which I can use to slow the passage of time,
to halt the march of the second hand of my life’s clock,
and to return me to the places above, below, and far-away:
among the clouds… underground… sitting on a wooden porch,
walking over a river with the love of my life, Melissa…
There were times when I was younger
when I regularly used to go out on my own
and be in a state of complete and utter awe
as walked amongst the amazing tall trees
of a thriving, lush, and inspiring woodland.

My Poem “ON”

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From the moment that I
open my eyes every morning,
my mind, my heart,
my extra-sensory perception
of the world is well and truly ON…
From the moment that I am awoken
and I am in full control
of my actions and my decisions,
the light of my soul rises
and again starts to shine like the sun…
From the moment that I step
off of the dream path that I have been walking
all throughout the night,
I slowly feel fully reintegrated
and reconnected to the physical world…
From the moment that I feel
the air of the morning upon my skin,
I feel something within me reach out
and grasp the energy of the new day
that instantly breathes new life into me –
and that reinvigoration of spirit
does not end until the stars above
shine again and the light of the day is done…
From the moment that I fall asleep
another part of me takes over
and goes to the places that can only be reached
when the light of the world of true,
unfiltered, and pure imagination
has been switched from OFF to ON.

My Poem “The Maze”

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Into the maze I walk…
Into my mind I fall…
Into the well of my dreams I dive…
Into the place of love
where I feel the most alive…
I see painted upon every wall
reflections of my life…
I hear the echoes of voices
that sound so loud
they could be the sonic boom
of a lightning strike…
Into the maze within me
is where I go to find inspiration…
Into the maze that I have built over time
is where I go to find the things
that were born from my imagination…
Into the maze is where I go
to marvel at the stars
of my internal constellations,
and when I reach the centre of my maze,
the heart of my labyrinth,
the core of my soul,
that is where I always find someone waiting for me:
the person who I would protect and do anything for
and the person who gives my life meaning…
I have searched so many times, in so many places
but the love of my life, Melissa,
has been for so long, and she always will be,
the one who I find and who finds me
within the maze of my mind.

My Poem “A place and a time”

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A photographer capturing an artist,
capturing a place, capturing a moment of time…
A poet inspired by an artist,
inspired by the muse of life,
capturing the instant of a lifetime…
A gift shared, feelings painted,
high above and in view
of a carousel that you might expect to find
at a fun-fair,
an artist uses all the colours
of his heart and soul to imprint upon their canvas
a picture perfect miracle of creativity…
A place has an unique voice
that sometimes speaks to an artist…
An artist interprets and is inspired
by an experience and a moment
in ways that vary from person to person…
Sometimes a painting paints itself,
sometimes a poem writes itself,
sometimes a moment captures itself
and becomes a part of someone’s heart
and changes their life…
A moment can come and go in a flash –
however that is the most beautiful thing about life:
that it is finite…
and if you ask me and many others like me,
I and they would tell you that
every moment craves and calls out to be captured –
because every moment of time is a place,
and every place captured
is an infinite moment of time.

My Poem “My Basic Instincts”

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My basic instinct is to love:
to love Melissa, to love my family,
to love life and all the gifts
and wonders that it provides…
My first instinct is to be optimistic:
to focus on the positive,
to look at things in a way that feels poetic,
profound, and as inspiring
as the sight of fire-light…
My basic instinct is to the think
about people and about things
and be inspired by them:
moments when a single thought
grows into the many words of an idea
are golden and they are as energizing
as a bolt of lightning
from the mysterious and inviting sky
that I see above me –
whether at night when it is dark,
or when the sun shines bright
and intensifies an already
beautiful blue sky…
In any sense of the word,
I am not a genius of intellect –
however, what and who I am
is a dreamer, a writer
and an artist who seeks out
and who follows the trails of breadcrumbs
and footprints that are there to be found,
until I find myself back where I began…
and it is then that I realize again
who I am and what are my basic instincts.