Sleeping Circles


"Coyote is always out there,
and coyote is always waiting..."
- Hillerman

It seems there are shapes
of horses made of stones
arranged ten thousand years ago
in Arroyo Diablo, hidden
by the thin sand of this almost
deserted place.

It seems a thin halo of moisture
covers each rock, almost as protection
against the Santa Anas, winds
and generals coming from
the east to these low hills,

as I have come from the west.
The salton sea has almost
disappeared, and tire tracks
are split by a mesquite
now decades old.

What would you do if one
place on the plain is as good
as another for sleeping,
while literal monsters
turquoise and black

carry their poisonous teeth
silently, and scorpions
curve their segmented tails
around you in the dark?
Would you not describe

as these people did
a small circle with fist
sized stones around you
as your only protection
against the known?

But would you think ten
thousand years later a man
might find your sleeping circle
here on the desert pavement
and lie down on it

for protection?

~

words: W. F. Lantry, Washington (homepage)
original publication: Sleeping Circles / Makar

image: Randy Thurman, Tennessee (ThurmanArt)
original publication: Moonlight Sonata / parameter magazine


~

another sleeping circle: Sleep, Next to Flames (#2)