Coyote's Progress

"The capitalist world must rediscover its own conscience,
now that it has no adversary."

Gary Snyder

The wheel was invented by Coyote's cousin.
That's what he said.
Said that no one had ever thought of how easy it is to roll things
down hill, to push things up hill, til his cousin thought of it.

I was there, he said
saw the whole thing, the slow shift of his gaze as the tendril crept in,
this idea, the round shape of his mouth as it formed in his mind,
the smooth glide, the ease of listening that he had, listening inward.

I could do that too, Coyote said
but you tend to bump into things when you live like that,
when you turn your attention inward. It just ain't healthy,
he said, as we watched the red wheelbarrow fill with chickens.
White, clean cut, youthful,
prime chickens.

I thought the wheel'd been around forever, I said
and he said naugh, it just seems that way.
Things are just that much easier now, happen so much faster.
It seems like forever just because everything speeded up.

I could've done that you know, Coyote said
but some things are too easy, I'd have been embarrassed.
But not my cousin, him being so lazy, well, to him
any efficiency is progress.

RD Savage
09/27/95

© 1995 by RD Savage

Owl Suspects
A River of Angels
The Assent of Owl