Coyote Mapping the Landscape

Coyote Mapping the Landscape

Coyote
Finds the world wide open
Everywhere he goes
He smells the happiness of
River bottoms
Tall mountains
Dusty arroyos.
He sees
Birds wing into flight
Snakes scroll through dirt
Deer browse along trails.
He hears
Mice and jackrabbits
Bustle through bushes
Insects whir past
The far-off thunder grumble
Over distant ridges.

Over mountains and valleys he travels
Tongue lolling, nose raised
Into the sun
As it rises up from the cool of dawn
To witness Coyote's shadow
And then slides melting down the heat of day
Over Coyote's dusty back.
Moonlight traces his track
Through the silver-furred Coyote landscape.
Mapping and measuring with his senses
Everything he smells
And everything he hears
And everything he sees.
Everywhere he passes the world is taking shape
In olfactory remembrance,
Coyote canniness left on the nearest bush or rock.
This known universe: Coyote cartography.

For Peter Eberhardt, mapmaker

Happy Birthday, Peter! Melody, 5/7/07