Brett Hanley

I Should Have Loved Bigfoot Instead

“I should have loved a thunderbird instead.”
—Sylvia Plath

I doubt if Bigfoot held me every dark forest night 
for three years, he’d let me go without wild protest. 

Maybe what I had with her, real as it seemed, 
was only a Yeti, only an Abominable Snowman. 

Bigfoot doesn’t hurt people. The rock he tossed 
at that hiker was a hoax. I’d let him hex me. 

I’d let him vex me in exchange for his furry embrace. 
I won’t stop wishing and looking for his prints.

If a Rougarou snuck up on our campsite, 
I think Bigfoot would show his claws for me. 

He and I will need to find ways to forgive each other, 
for who we were and have become, every sundown.

I bet Bigfoot’s the kind of guy who insists 
no one goes to bed angry. Let’s get it all out,

I imagine him saying to me in a gentle tenor.  
To him, I would be well-worth the lost sleep.