Poems by George Perreault
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Coyote Prayer
by George Perreault
George lives 500' above the Truckee River, which runs from Lake Tahoe to Pyramid Lake; there is no outlet to this river system which supports four species of fish, one of which lives nowhere else. As is typical on this planet, the indigenous people who live at the terminus of the river are often at the mercy of those who live upstream.
After the night wind rearranges the patio,
snow spray-painting the tattered yard, hear
from an old friend in Florida, how she and
Coyote surprised each other outside the condo
how he sidled swiftly back toward the bay, this
south and west on the far side of the peninsula
from another school shooting, another massacre,
crowds of ravaged parents, stacks of body bags
where another crazy white man is to blame, so say
the white men as they pass out bullets and guns.
My old friend used to watch the Hueys stream
back from the front and the front was everywhere
like a dream from the latest war, the one where
natives ignite themselves inside the compound
the latest pain-crazed ally in our midst retold as
children slaughtering our own children, stories
spun round the fire, how Coyote brought forth
the world and its soil, all the Animal Peoples,
Two-Legs heedless and vicious above all, Coyote
watching from beyond, and when she’d looked into
his yellow eyes and could breathe again prayed
Creator, Creator Coyote, make us better than this.
© George Perreault