El Coyote

[JackShea]

Written along the Mexican-American border.


A fleeting character who preys upon
Those who cross Las Montañas
Ill prepared for the winds or
The rains.
You think he howls
To the moonlight
You are wrong.
He has shed his skin
Transubstantiated from
Animal to man
Which in turn has
Made him the more vicious.
He is now
Two-footed
Erect
Alert
Devious
Deadly.

El Coyote leads,
Los Pollos follow
Through manzanitas
Through dry washes.
Unknowingly they trip
A sensor.
They are enwrapped
In infrared.
El Coyote's ears perk
His nose twitches
In the unstarred night.
El Coyote knows
They are being followed.
He stops
And summons
His pack.
The pack encircles
Los Pollos
And El Coyote gnaws
At their flesh.
They beat
The chickens
And take all their
Viscerra's will hold.

The American agents
Close in as
El Coyote sheds
His human skin.
On all fours now
He disappears
Through the night
Amongst the sage
Leaving, lying upon
Foreign soil
Yesterday's news.


The End