Urban Threat
Lives in California
By Peter Asco
It was a hot and dry 91 degrees Southern California afternoon
when I heard the rattling of dry leaves below my balcony
As my eyes searched the hedges beyond the patio fence
I got a glimpse of a bushy tail moving across the shrubs,
and suddenly, there it was, in a small brush clearing
the misunderstood, much feared and despised urban threat
a young and healthy golden Coyote, its image broken up by the chain-link barrier, like in a jigsaw puzzle
As it calmly looked me up and confidently laid its elongated body under the shade,
paws forward, its chest against the cool ground, it raised its chin and our eyes met in acceptance
Gently resting its head and closing its eyes like it already knew me
It made me realize that while fully engaged building my raised vegetable bed upon the slope
I had been inconspicuously observed, I had become familiar,
and now, it was allowing itself to be seen, with fearless abandon
I wondered who had sent it my way as only my father knew about my project,
and the colony of gophers, ground squirrels, and smaller rodents I had to consider,
and the preventive measures I had taken, even laying chicken wire under the topsoil,
knowing very well, that as Summer approached, I would be at war for my greens
I could not have dreamt of a better ally than a friendly hazel eyed coyote
taking residence to look over my hard-earned hillside veggie orchard
We can both now rest and sleep in peace in this newfound partnership,
I can even allow myself to forget and leave the orchard’s door wide open.
