Poem: My Year, In Coyotes.

[cadhla]

I have measured my year
In pictures
Of coyotes
Who watch me, yellow-eyed
And desert-patient,
As I sit, and scribe, and wait
For the waters to rise.

I have measured my year
In pawprints
Of coyotes
Who wander, bristle-tailed
And canyon-clever,
Through my small suburban yard,
And the waters do not rise.

I have measured my year
In secrets
And coyotes,
Who are tawny-brown and golden,
And brushland-brilliant.
Now I sit, and smile, and know
That the waters will rise.