Sitting on my haunches
Originally published by Outrider Press, 2000
in the anthology Earth, Sky and Beyond, Nature and Our Planet
in sleep i smile, dreaming
my womans’ face framed
with gifts of nature
shells, pinecones, flowers, bits
of wood twined in long hair, flowing
across a bed of moss i am pulled
shedding this skin
dissolving
transformed into fox
i sit on my haunches
in the same place
look up with my long face at bright
twinkling through lodge pole pine
the light inside me glows warm
thin limbed lean muscled
motions of grace
keen awareness into burrows around me
of motive
in the surrounding air
of wings and claws and fur
of owl gliding silently in
together we breathe in the dance of life
i trot precisely towards shallow streambed
knowing before i reach it
exactly where i am going
awareness so spontaneous, so present
that my steps seem preconceived
each life i take
releases freely, given quickly
necessary for survival
the warm flesh
red blood
stains only the leaves around the kill
i live to live
to lie under sun in dried grasses
feeling the heat
on my red fur
licking cubs with my slim
tongue
as they drink from my side
Originally published by Outrider Press, 2000
in the anthology Earth, Sky and Beyond, Nature and Our Planet
in sleep i smile, dreaming
my womans’ face framed
with gifts of nature
shells, pinecones, flowers, bits
of wood twined in long hair, flowing
across a bed of moss i am pulled
shedding this skin
dissolving
transformed into fox
i sit on my haunches
in the same place
look up with my long face at bright
twinkling through lodge pole pine
the light inside me glows warm
thin limbed lean muscled
motions of grace
keen awareness into burrows around me
of motive
in the surrounding air
of wings and claws and fur
of owl gliding silently in
together we breathe in the dance of life
i trot precisely towards shallow streambed
knowing before i reach it
exactly where i am going
awareness so spontaneous, so present
that my steps seem preconceived
each life i take
releases freely, given quickly
necessary for survival
the warm flesh
red blood
stains only the leaves around the kill
i live to live
to lie under sun in dried grasses
feeling the heat
on my red fur
licking cubs with my slim
tongue
as they drink from my side
