12,000 Dreams Later

Coyote had to kill the water monster
To make it safe for the People
To live without fear of being eaten

Each time my Grandfather tells a story
He remembers what it was like
When the animal people and the first humans
Told each other stories

Wintertime is when we tell stories
And grandchildren fall asleep around the fire

12, 000 Years later
My life began

When he was 14
My father ran away from Seattle
Back to his grandparents in Nebraska

In 1962
The farmer's daughter met the electrician's son

The cement between two planks
Occurs on my chin

When I was 14
I ran away from my father in Seattle
To live with my mother in Snohomish

A woman inside my head
Shrieks from the concussion above my left eye

My brother is the daylight
I am the twilight

Leave me alone
I'm drunk on the music

My red eyes tremble
My sour breath crawls up my spine

A hangover rides the scar on my chin

My hands shake like a topless dancer
The sparkle of her hair
Like the color of light
Reflecting off cottonwood leaves
In Spring

14 Horses from the Place of Terrible Winds
Scream out of the scar in my left ring finger

Junkies make the best spaghetti

I crawled the spine of the Blood of Christ
For two years
Before I made it back to the Salish Sea

Grandpa whispers
When Coyote returns from the Half-dome of Extended Light
The People will be reunited

12, 000 Dreams later
My life began