A Coyote Taught Me Poetry: Poetry and Prose Reflections: from the Land of Enchantment to the Sunshine State

By Jessica Lyn Elkins

A coyote taught me about poetry and life. A four-part collection of poetry and prose tells of a journey of discovery that began during daily observations in the high desert of New Mexico. I met coyotes, cranes, and a homeless man who occupied the same territory on the edges of urban life. These experiences led to my involvement in a grassroots movement to save rural land from development. After a cross-country move to the Sunshine State, the fecund profusion of Southern wildlife and century oak trees deepened my appreciation for natures diversity. Treasures and Connections chronicles loss, death, and triumph of an internal journey to acceptance. The poems of love and relationships recount the personal examination that enabled me to understand lifes fragility. The final section is a tribute to my mother, a woman of her time, who wrote poetry and yearned to be heard.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524549282

Jessica Lyn Elkins

Jessica Lyn Elkins grew up in a small town in Texas. She earned a BA from the University of New Mexico and graduated from St. John’s College of Santa Fe with a MA in liberal education. She has worked as a general contractor, ice cream shop owner, and human resources manager. Her first novel, The Friend in Question, was published in 2015. This is her third novel. She and her husband live in Gainesville, Florida.

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Copyright © 2016 by Jessica Lyn Elkins.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Rev. date: 10/19/2016

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CONTENTS

Part One: Coyote Poems

Part Two: The Sunshine State

Part Three: Treasures & Connections

Part Four: A Tribute to My Mother

For my children: Greg and Claire

COYOTE POEMS

Valley, Fields & Ditches

The coyotes keep coming, breeding up to fill in the gaps, moving in where the living is easy. They are cunning, versatile, hungry and unstoppable.

T. Coraghessan Boyle

The Tortilla Curtain. New York: Penguin Books, page 215

They fill spaces like water or darkness.

Coyotes move within a landscape of attentiveness.

Craig Childs

The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild. New York: Little, Brown and Company, page 38, page 39

PERSPECTIVE

Coyote Poems is a collection of verse and prose I wrote over an extended period when I took daily morning walks in Anderson Fields in the North Valley of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The fields, surrounded by irrigation ditches and farm roads, were a magnet for walkers of all ages. Most were accompanied by their dogs. A successful grassroots movement among concerned citizens helped create The Open Space Alliance which led to the eventual City of Albuquerque purchase of 138 acres of farmland to be designated as open space. The land was saved from development of a new subdivision of homes within the semi-rural area. Prior to the purchase, city taxpayers had approved a quarter-cent gross receipts tax increase for two years to buy open space and improve parks. Protection of the environment is always at the cost of time, money, and dedicated hard work. Good for you, Albuquerque.

The coyote inspired me to write.

DRAMA BY THE DITCH

Or: Coyotes in Training

My walk started as any other morning walk. I was awed by the changing morning light and the cool crisp air. Happy to be in the fields, I concentrated on my exercise. The walk was usually routine, but this time I was in for a new nature experience. In the middle of the newly cut alfalfa field were two young coyotes, lazily sprawled close together but obviously waiting for something. In the distance I spotted a large coyote walking purposely around the perimeter of the field and angling in the direction of the two smaller animals. It was apparent that a mother coyote was joining her waiting pups for a definite purpose. As I made the turn at the field’s end and headed east, the three coyotes assembled for a brief moment and then separated. The larger female circled to the west and the two pups began to trot in the opposite direction. I was fascinated. I could hardly contain my excitement at observing such a drama played out only a short distance from my home.

Passing into an area by the irrigation ditchbank overgrown with tall weeds and wild brilliant sunflowers, I momentarily lost sight of the three animals. As I emerged from the weedy area and came to a fallow field, the pups were again in my view. To my surprise the pups were skulking from clump to clump of buffalo grass. They were barely visible at times because of the morning light. Reddish gray coats and rusty colored ears blended perfectly with the dull color of the soil and the sparse high desert vegetation.

Aha! The goal of the drama became evident. A small flock of Canada geese foraged in the alfalfa field nearby, busily nibbling up the tasty grass and clover. I could see the mother coyote partially hidden beneath an overhanging cottonwood. She stood alert on the opposite side of the flock from where her pups approached. She was waiting for her pups to startle the geese from one side of the flock and perhaps one faltering slow flying goose would be caught by the wily mother. She could bring down a goose if she had the element of surprise. It would be a tasty morning treat for three. Could mother coyote with the help of her progeny be rewarded with a succulent meal?

As soon as the two pups-in-training came closer to where the geese gathered, a look-out goose gave one low honk. Immediately twenty dark-masked heads went up and swiveled in all directions. I stood quietly, everything else forgotten but the scene before me. One noisy united honk, honk, honk and the flock of geese with a startling rush of strong wings arose into the brilliant blue sky. Mother coyote lunged at one departing goose, the last of the flock to lift off. She stopped and watched their flight toward the safety of the river. Three coyotes, still hungry but wiser, assembled in the middle of the empty field and then ran out of sight into the underbrush.

What a morning! I had seen the drama of the hunt, the victory of the geese and the defeat of the coyotes—all on my early morning walk.

IMAGINED CONVERSATION WITH COYOTE

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