-A coyote danced. Perhaps not. Reason tells me that
he was catching his breakfast. Voles, moles, meadow mice, ground
squirrels, chipmunks, and other rodents abound in the Sierra
meadows. But still, his dance was a study in grace and sinuous
acrobatics: A leap to clear the grass, a pounce, a toss of the head
and a wriggle of the hips … At each movement dew flew from the
grasses into the air around him, glittering in sprays of silver
droplets …”
* from Coyote
Dancer,
by May L.
Lenzer
The anthology Least
Loved Beasts of the Really Wild West: A Tribute finds virtue in
coyotes, tarantulas, rattlesnakes, mice, other many-legged
creatures and even a gelatinous invertebrate dubbed a “tank thing.”
Editors Terril Shorb and Yvette Schnoeker-Shorb have selected poems
and essays that bring us close to these non-charismatic fauna,
selecting essays and poems by Ursula K. Le Guin, Paul Schullery,
Greg Kosmicki and Gayle Silva, among many others. Perhaps it is not
surprising that some writers see the West’s least noticed wildlife
with an urban eye, though not so long ago the comparisons usually
went the other way. Are we doomed to now know wild animals mainly
as roadkill or when our neighbors poison them? The observers in
this little book still find the clicks and croaks of ravens
fascinating, the sight of a snake
engrossing.
Native West Press, Box 12227,
Prescott, AZ 86304. Paper: $8.95. 154 pages.
*Matt Welter
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Least loved beasts.
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