sign inside the gate: Habitat Restoration Area
Under a gray October sky
a coyote lies on his left side
on the gravel between
the gate and the road
nearly whole as if
he’d fallen over running
legs and paws in running pose
struck by lightning by poison
or by his own heart turned
against him.
He’s lain here for months
through late spring rains
through summer’s blaze
and half of autumn—
dusty fur intact
eye socket scoop
slender muzzle
sharp sunbleached teeth
stark-white shinbones—
all that fur
no sign of crows maggots
carrion beetles.
Young
he wouldn’t have been alone
that April evening between
dusk and dark
loping along County Road 20
past greening-up fields—
keen eyes roving belly full
just out cruising to cricketsong
claw clicks on asphalt
occasional
wheels zwooshing.
Where did his pack go
the 4 or 5 others with him
after the pickup hit him
after he crawled
from road to gravel to iron gate
from gray to gray to gray?
If not a pickup maybe poison—
his usual nose for that not working—
some farmer calling his
dogs in and setting out
bait night after night
seeking to avenge his dead chickens
his strawberry patch.
Poison—
is that why there’s so much of him left
the crows and maggots too
smart to feed?
If someone were to pull his scruff
his roaddusty pelt
it would lift away in one heavy
clump leaving a scramble
of bones and teeth.
He cannot finish here
cannot fade
into the earth.
Someone should take a soft old sheet
spread it over him tuck it under
gently roll him up in it
carry him to a cottonwood
lay him down unroll him
and leave him there
on dry yellow heart-shaped leaves
on autumn-warm brown valley duff
away from road from gravel from gate
from gray.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A native of Nebraska, Judy Brackett lives in a small town in the California foothills of the northern Sierra Nevada. Her poems have appeared in Epoch, The Maine Review, Commonweal, Miramar, Subtropics, Crab Orchard Review, and elsewhere. Her poetry chapbook, Flat Water: Nebraska Poems, was published by Finishing Line Press in March 2019. www.judybrackettcrowe.com