If I Were Coyote
I would change the children into more stars
to give the whorl of night the purity
of blinking whiteness.
I can see Little Josephine, she accidentally stepped
on a landmine left behind from a World War . . .
Little Pepe drowned in the cold rusing of the Rio Grande,
He was only trying to follow his brother . . .
Little Ashki Yazzie watched his mom hug him with two black eyes,
She died three days later from internal bleeding
and domestic . . .
If I were Coyote.
I would save them
They would become Turquoise Boy, Turquoise Girl,
Corn Boy, Corn Beetle Girl . . .
They are safe in the sky, no one can touch them.
Only the Sun and the Moon, their Grandparents . . .
They stand out.
Grandma, Mother, Little Sister are all life-givers to make up
the soil of the four sacred mountains to the farthest
reaches of the Earth.
Great Grandmother Lefthand stands to the East
The strong White Shell Woman is standing out.
Grandma Nalnishe stands to the West
The strong Abolone Shell Woman is standing out.
My mom, Marjorie Nalnishe stands to the South
The strong sky Turquoise Woman is standing out.
My little Sister, Avarae John stands to the North
The strong black Jet Girl is standing out.
Tied to the four corners of the Earth
with zigzag lightning, turquoise, blinding sun beams,
white shell--
I would bound each mountain to the Earth through
The Rainbow Priests who would have no boundary
and encircle the earth in one endless endless rainbow . . .
They would be pure again.
if I were Ma'ii.
The House Made of White Shell floats above the oceans'
oil-slicked and styrofoam shores,
shere the river water comes.
From loving fathers, crooked politicians, wife-beaters,
hard-working brothers, convicted killers,
Millionaire industrialist, Catholic priest . . .
From the evil and good of patriarchs, I see each one just as
a drop of water, each man would once again
share in his single
Fluid force for clean oceans, streams, rivers, lakes, hidden
springs for the fish to swim in, for the thirsty deer,
for the sparrow . . .
If I were Coyote.
I would change all men into the waters of the Earth
They would be pure again as the coming winter's
wide leaf moon--
mists fresh as mint calls the return of Changing Woman
To her White Shell home. The People Made of Singing Water
would return
To see my Sixth World where all beings could talk
with one pure voice . . .
I would return their voices.
At night, Changing Woman could be seen weaving together
time, red earth, male rain, flash lightning, and
salty ocean into her rug of life.
At sunrise, the House Made of Dawn, the turquoise house
of the East could be seen and visited. I would give
the worm, sheep, tiger,
Eagle, lizard, and shark back their voices, it would be like
the Emergence again. The Insect People would return.
The Star People would
Return. I would create the Wing People and the Little People
to wonder in the sky and on the ground,
as hummingbirds and strawberries do.
In the end, I am Ma'ii.
This is the Place of Melting into one, where everything
Is peaceful and perfect without Man, just the Holy Beings--
In this Sixth World, at the edge of a great lake, I fling a stone towards the water's edge--
It skips skips skips . . . sinks.
I take a piece of earth clay
Bake it all day, all night, like smooth pottery--
Until I have baked the perfect
Man and woman, girl and boy.
Thought Woman would give them
Independent thought just like snow or love--
Human Beings would return . . .
In the end, I am Coyote
I have created the stars and death.
I would play with lizards again, hissing cats . . .
I would gamble my children away, whistle at night
Run in a lightning storm, step over grandma's belly
In the end, I would tell my stories
All winter long when the snakes
and bears slept, and I would tell my
Stories all summer long too
When the snake and bears were awake--
They are known to be thieves and tricksters too . . .
© 1998 by Hershman John.
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