Santa Fe Poetry Broadside
Issue #13, January, 2000 : -- -1  2 -3 -4 -5 6 -7 -8 -9 -10 -11 -12 -13
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Art Goodtimes

                 

Roadkill Coyote

sprawls across the centerline
backleg broken * round glazed
eyes glassy as marbles
unwavering * unblinking
as the world rolls by
now unnoticed or maybe
all seen & thus merely
unremarkable * no fudge
or flinch of instinct * just
the cold last look of it all

i turn the car around &
go back to the body * drag her
off the road * steam rises
when I stroke her flanks
the jaw locked open * canine
teeth menacing even in death

i take out my knife * sing
  a death song & thanking coyote
i cut off her tail
fur too beautiful to bury

& then pull her hind end
deeper into the rabbitbrush
beside the highway's shoulder

all the way home * down
the canyon & up Norwood Hill
singing her
back into the mystery


Copyright © 1999 Art Goodtimes.

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Issue #13, January, 2000 :
Santa Fe Poetry Broadside.