(My father reminisces)

In thirty years of hiking in the highlands,

I’ve sometimes sensed a presence

a creature watching me. 

Heard it too at night

a guttural, coughing bark – 

I think it’s tiger-talk.
 

One dawn, I woke aware

of movement around my tent.

(I’d left the front flap open

to observe the Milky Way.)

A massive, dog-like head 

on powerful neck and shoulders

appeared at the opening.

Our eyes locked

a body-length apart.

Time froze, until the creature

backed away, leaving me

shaken

in awe

grateful

for that unexpected visit

wondering

which of us was more afraid.

A former English teacher, Liz McQuilkin began writing poetry after retiring. Her collaboration – with Karen Knight, Christiane Conésa-Bostock, Megan Schaffner and Liz Winfield – in the collection "Of Things Being Various" (Forty Degrees South) won the FAW National Community Award in 2010. "The Nonchalant Garden" (Walleah Press, 2014), was her first solo collection. She collaborated again with Karen Knight in "Renovating Madness" (Walleah Press, 2018). Her second solo collection, "Unwrapping Clouds", was published by Forty South in 2022.