Coyote Finishes Her Work

Claire Hero

We sit, Coyote and I, & the future lies between us, breathing softly. Puddles gallop in the wind. Whatever is singing in the trees keeps singing & the future lies quiet. “What shall we do now, Coyote?”

I say, & Coyote hushes me. Hushes me & the future lies closed & breathing. Where shall we go when the future awakens? There are things coming out of the earth at our feet. There are things opening in great clouds in the sky & still the future lies between us, breathing but not moving. Around us it is snowing. Snow falls in clumps & gallops off into the dark Forest. It devours the Forest, sucking the marrow from the limbs of trees. Some of the snow burrows under the earth, & waits, like a fossil, to be memorialized. The snow is gathering around my feet, sucking gently on my toes. Beneath us the earth breathes softly in & out. & the future opens its eye.