In the beginning god created good and evil
And god created the earth
And on the earth he put many creatures and beings
And to those creatures and beings he issued a warning:
Beware of the shapeshifters
For there are many legends that tell of their danger
The shapeshifters began as creatures just like any other
They inhabited the densest corners of the woods
And stayed in small circles amongst themselves
With time, they grew to fear the creatures from outside their woods
A scout was sent to see
And the tales he told stoked the others’ fears like fires
But no bother, there was no reason to ever leave
Their insularity felt safe, and in that safety they felt free
One day, a curdling scream ripped out from their encampment
A scuffle, a scurry, and then a silence
Broken only by the rustle of the leaves and trickle of the stream
The creatures of the woods emerged to find a carcass
One of their own
Ripped to shreds, ambushed and eaten alive
They wondered what had happened
Did an outsider attack? Were they in danger?
They heard a stir and turned to the tree line
In the shadows stood a transformed being
Once a creature of the woods like themselves,
Now a cannibal standing tall, morphed by magic from his usual form
A mesmerizing shapeshift
That left them stunned and starry-eyed
Woudst thou like to live deliciously?
Then thou must do the same as me
And so he taught the others his ways,
A simple sacrifice, though some would call it savage
They culled their herd, ate half of their own alive,
And afterward, their stomachs rumbled, a growing hunger taking hold
Each passing day, their cravings increased
Insatiable, they gnashed their teeth and shrieked at the sky
They couldn’t stay in the woods any longer
They needed flesh, they needed something to eat
And so the shapeshifters left the woods
And went into the wide open world
They shifted to resemble the outsiders, a mimicry most superb
Their intention to intermingle, to gain their trust, and then to feast
The outsiders lived unlike the shapeshifters had
They lived in light and didn’t fear other tribes
They rejoiced at their new visitors
And gave to them selflessly, and in their giving they felt free
The shapeshifters acted inconspicuous
Lived amongst the others, waited and watched
Their anticipation grew and ripened
They expected the only thing more delicious than meat
Would be meat that trusted you and felt betrayed as you dined
They gained trust slowly, then shifted suddenly
From their false selves into their true selves
From their seemingly pleasant shells to their terrifying inner truth
The creatures screamed when they saw the shapeshifters’ true form
In fear, they cowered, but bravely asked
Who are you?
You’ve morphed and molted
You’re nightmarish and horrible
You bear no resemblance to who we knew and loved
The shapeshifters cackled
And pranced around their trembling prey
Their stomachs rippled like currents in a stream
They sighed in ecstasy of their impending feed
And snarled through their glistening teeth
This is how we’ve always been
You mean to tell us you didn’t notice?
The Wendigo is a shapeshifting cannibalistic creature that comes from Native American folklore in the Great Lakes region (Sheposh, 2023). In the Shapeshifter quilt, a Wendigo is depicted baring its teeth and fixing its crazed eyes on the viewer. In “Encountering the Wendigo,” I use extended metaphor and the voice of a traditional folktale to tell the story of a group of cannibals that shapeshift to trick outsiders into befriending them. In writing this tale, I took inspiration from Florentin Smarandache’s philosophical framework of Neutrosophy and how it relates to mythology and folklore. Neutrosophy is defined as the study of neutral thought. Broadly, this is the idea that “…the world is full of indeterminacy.” In other words, the idea that the world exists in states of “both-and” rather than “either-or” (Smarandache, 2024, p. 79). Neutrosophy can be found in centuries worth of folklore and mythology from around the world. Numerous tales of hybrid creatures (creatures that are made from combining categories of beings, such as animal/human, animal/animal, human/god, human/demon, etc.) how they have helped societies throughout history grapple with complex situations that do not fit neatly into binaries. (pp. 58-69). Rather than using an existing animal to portray my Shapeshifter character, I use an animal/human hybrid creature to demonstrate the complex reality that two things are true at once: I was hurt by the actions of this individual but also understand the fears and desires that led them to those actions. In a departure from my previous poems, I provide very little context or concrete details about the nature of this conflict and what actually took place.