4. Coyote Moon

The sultry summer midnight hour came and went as the full moon's illumination magnified the sun scorched fields of forevermore...a free form prose narrative with cultural influences... A Coyote Moon chapter by Harlon Rivers written to commemorate the last Blue Moon  August 31st,  2012

The sultry summer midnight hour
came and went as the full moon's illumination
magnified the sun scorched fields of forevermore .
The air was so thick , through the waist high brambles ,
that you could cut it with the Kaiser Blade .
It's a burdensome task to carry that weight ,
but the ancient tool was adorned proudly
with an old Tatanka leather shoulder sling .
It was willingly carried by the native warrior ,
defending his passage against the prickles
of Mother Earth’s barbed cane shield .

A natural place where the fusion

of subsistence and survival
are plucked from the thorny sweetbriars
sustaining humble existence.
The shadow from the exiled silhouette

 staggered into the edge of the vast amber wheat field.
A cloud of unsettled dust rose like a twisting dirt devil
in the wake of fluid movement .
The traces of footsteps quietly crackled the dry grass .
Coyote was going there...

The woven willow satchel overflowed
with a fragrant sweetness
The damp Bota bag moistened 

the wanderer's parched and gritty cotton mouth,

coughing uncontrollably as the powdery earth

moved the stagnant air,
subtly stirring from the startling motion.
The figure’s unaccompanied shadow stumbled…
stopping to rest on the lone flat rock
enlightened by the glimmering moon light.

All of the panorama vista’s inhabitants
hushed their free spirited chatter .
Immediately sensing healing energy ,
becoming undetectable , soundless listeners .
Instantly silenced by the arrhythmic vibration
of the intruders clumsy movement.
Moments passed in starlit stillness
as a shooting star’s tailing, fading shimmer, flickered
like that final moment when the boisterous crack
of the last thunder clap's clamor
decays into total eerie dark silence.

The only audible sound
was that of dusty lungs rattling and wheezing
as if death were near,
and yet it was only a mind made illusion
The exhausted intruder labored
to breathe the hazy night air
in the humid, sweaty stillness.
The rhythm of his strained heart
thundered in his chest without fear.
Eyes of a soul were mesmerized
by a halo around the moon
evolving from the radiant
swirling moon dust of a solar tempest.

Constellations glowing effervescence,
illuminated the silhouette within the shadows.
Firefly's transcend, disappearing into a starlit oasis
The aura of the spirit of the Coyote Moon
had symbolic crescent shaped ears,
able to hear and comprehend every ethereal
wordless sigh breathed.
Inaudible thoughts and sounds
echoed mystically in silent reflections .

The essence of every exhaled breath ,
was an emotional release, lucidly revealing
a wholehearted awakening life,
in route to vivid understanding.
Taking ownership of all choices
made on life's journey
paths followed brought relief from sufferance
in search of peaceful solitude. 

The defining instance lingered
in a final moment of merciful surrender .
No longer fighting unnatural forces ;
emotions were absolved,

vanishing  into the universe.
All purpose is awakening into the present moment.
Set free like dust dissipated by the fluid wind
The reality of the dimensionless toll paid
astounded the lost and forgotten soul .

Enduring man made stigmas ,
rooted deeply in delusions  of earthly destiny 

Never surrendering to self-fulfilled prophecy;
the release of poignant emotional energy
into the sultry surreal air, heightened awareness.
The ethereal energy

brought the dramatic howling Coyote to his feet!
Breaking silence... celebrating his nocturnal freedom
with the man in the moon...
The sounds of silence came alive...

Yip yip Awoooh... 

       

     








© 2012, 2013 Harlon Rivers