Eleven Fables

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1. The Wisdom of Rat

Seeker Rat climb
Trash Mountain.
Say to
Guru Rat:        my line o' work,
                         got to know the man
                         I'm dealin'.
                         How'm I gonna know the man?

Guru Rat stare out over
Trash City.
Say to
Seeker Rat:    all there is to know
                         about the man
                         is what he throw out.

2. Crow and the Daughter of the Captain of Industry

My father's house has
statues of beautiful birds
cast in gold and pearl.

One looks like you. I
sang about his diamond eyes.
Father laughed at me.

Crow:  I have this bag of stars
            he cannot comprehend
            the golden road is rough with stones
            until you have poor friends.

3. Monsieur Renard, Layin' in the Weeds

Information is power, sings Jaybird.
Look at Lynx. People
tell her secrets. And
there she sits in her shiny coat, an
economy unto herself.

Fox, color of
weeds and still as red
clay, listening:
         to see, and
         not be seen.
         Sharp eyes and invisible ears
         know all, or soon will.

4. Bear, at Bay

Bore the world once.
Carries it now on her broad back.
Looks Wolf in the eye:

            if there's nothing you'd die for
            there's nothing to live for.

5. Peckerwood and Legbone Argue About Religion

Old Man hammering at his tree again.
Looking for something,
all day every day.
Filling up the woods with his racket.

Woodpecker:   God is rhythm. Listen, as I
                          drum my way to Heaven.

Legbone just laughs that laugh of his.

Coyote:             Smile at the moon
                          and she'll smile back.
                          Hover and growl, is the
                          path to Grrrvana.

6. Ladybug and Dragon

Hearth and kith, Dragon. Hearth and kith.
You'd rather watch life than live it.
Gonna die alone.
Need to find a good woman,
settle down, hatch kids.

Munching on a pile of gems.
Musing for a thousand years:

             Information is the most popular girl in town.
             Knowledge owns a nice home.
             Wisdom is the loneliest man in the world.

7. Coyote Interprets Joseph Campbell

Burro says: do you think Horse will love me?
Her mane is a high cloud in the
sky blue sky.
My heart is sturdy,
my back strong as stone.

Coyote says:

            Slam shut your eyes and
            race your dreams over the cliff.

I hear Coyote's laugh.
It is my laugh.

8. The Ballad of Coyote and Crow

The man done passed another law against crows.
Can't tolerate their languid, their
loop from wire to wire, the insatiable
cool of feathers and motley
drifting yard to yard
like there weren't no hedge there at all.

Coyote been chased off a porch or two herself.
Says a man builds a cage,
gotta find something to fill it up.

Crow ain't dumb. He knows the song—everybody does.
So he works up a whistle,
dips his face in the water
right in front of Scarecrow.

Sits him down,
waits on the man.

9. Dog, Two Roads, Samhain

October hardwoods crest the Blue Ridge,
red gold orange, the incandescent
rumor of All Hallows.

Dog, tail flying full mast,
sniffs from oak to maple,
back again:

            Two roads diverge in a wood,
            drain into maplessness.
            Squirrel!
            I dive into the trees.

10. Ferret and the Wind

When I was young
we were a riverbed
collected at the foot of
Grandmother Oak.

Owl lifted us on his knee,
gathered close the shadows to hear
birth of Moon, of
prodigal stars and their
bags empty of shimmering.

These days I never
hear anyone talking about Owl.

Perhaps, says Wind,
you press your ear
against the wrong doorway.

11. Raven, February Moon

Full moon. Snowfield, vast
beneath the mountain:

            to understand the
            truth of people, study
            their contradictions.