coyote

coyote​

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urine yelling in the dark united find find her musk there familiar one with the familiar yips the
other we know from first light first sound—blood blood of mother-us and nuzzling into fur,
milky teat, nipping and one of us always fermenting stink on the other, before the big yellow heat
rises, before the munch before the screech like wrong howling and mother-not-us limping
lopsided smelling wrong then                 The One We Followed went off with her

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he came back but no more familiar-mother scent

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we encountered again secret milk smell later after our noses grew long       it was among the dead
thing smell we all of us nuzzling at peeling back and one brother took a bite and went all wrong
in his smell too and was gone
then the breeding itch to drive sniffing at the edges of big walls and dog scent behind heady male
scent we lost sister there to crack sound and stinging unright smoke and there was blood in her
ears that we licked and                         gone                 she was too

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so many went                          until only The One We Follow and we remained, I and other, sister long
grey one, more rain-soil-wet-smell than sister long-nose darker one with the smoke between her
eyes                          desert cold and lonely between us and all still we go yapping to another even as
The One We Follow nips at me, steals her away, as the desert calls far there is still always out
wild patches for rolling                          though sister more of his scent than mine now

 

as we walk-danger between tall mammal dens with their smells familiar-odd—hot and fruit and
bloody meat turning bad—with light shining down the thing tall and long and straight, bad bright
light of mammal smell tangy and wrong and upright                          except to see what’s next like
the soon-silver moon when the crunching rat stink breaks in my mouth

 

we see here a little-not us smaller and weaker more yap than yip yipping at us loud and bright
gleaming healthy smell                          so delicious with the desperation reek of her hunger chase hunger
catch sister and I we crunch her open and sister yips                          The One Who We Follow comes,
checking nose to hole and then                          she lets him take our prize     even as I could be smelling
his neck crunch in my teeth