Out of the corner of my eye
I saw him; The Trickster.
loping across in dog shape.
soft bright fir glistening in
the October sunset looking
like nothing other than an
ordinary run of the range coyote
trudging home through
the summer follow
at the close of the day.
He’d of fooled me too , being
green and all --- just out of trade
school, fresh from the east ---
he’d of fooled me, too,
’cept for the lines of critters
that flowed from him in the dusk.
Maybe he got careless, or,
maybe I had earned some special
grace, but there they were: gophers,
and weasels, a fox, several deer and
an antelope all dancing in his train.
I stopped but they all disappeared
into the summer fallow. All
except Coyote and he was standing
in the last bit of light on top of
a little knoll. He stood up stretching
his arms skyward like a workman
too long stooped over his work. Then
the light died and coyote ran down
cross the field, through the ditch
pausing only for a heartbeat in
the head lights. Then he disappeared
into the night leaving me to ponder
what, if anything, I had seen.