Four Mountain Wolves

by Leslie Marmon Silko

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Where are the wild turkey in the poem "Four Mountain Wolves?" This poem summary says "All the deer have gone," the narrator tells us, and the "wild turkey" are "all flown away." (Milne, 132)

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While the summary for "Four Mountain Wolves," by Leslie Marmon Silko, states that the wild turkey have flown away ("All the deer have gone," the narrator tells us, and the "wild turkey" are "all flown away."), the lines within the poem speak nothing of turkeys.

In fact, the only other animals which are specifically mentioned are the deer ("and the deer have all gone") and the elk ("she reached the swollen belly elk"). 

That said, one could assume that the speaker could be referring to wild birds, even turkeys, in the following line: "their fear is your triumph / they huddle in the distances / weak."
While not specifically stated as being turkeys, let alone birds, one could assume that the turkeys are weak, given the winter and lack of food, and they are huddling together for protection. If memory serves me right, deer and elk only huddle to protect young. That said, elk are very large creatures and would tend to fight a lone wolf. The only assumption which could be made about wild turkeys could be justified in the lines provided above.

That said, Silko is a Native American writer. There could be different translations of her poems which include a line, or lines, about wild turkeys.

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