For Terri and Ellen
In the Women's House,
spirits are speaking.
The women
are tapping word-hoards
until stories
jump like cholla thorns
from mind to pen,
burrowing deep beneath
the skin.
In the Fairy House,
Coyote sleeps.
All around him, in the desert,
saguaro dream like green giants
while Coyote juggles
mischief and luck in his sleep.
All around him, in the desert,
the uncles and aunts
teach us to remember
that we are still animals.
In the Women's House,
the otherworld is watching.
The women
are borrowing from the dry hills
shape and pigment,
vision and song,
allowing totems to guide them
through this pathless world.
In the Spirit House,
women are singing.
Their voices
are like the silent laughter
of cats.
With every day's work
they move closer to the
vanishing ghost of a wilderness
that now exists only
in peripheral vision.
What you and I no longer remember,
the women in this house
have never forgotten.
About the Author: Charles de Lint is the author of Circle of Cats, Waifs and Strays, The Onion Girl, and numerous other works of fiction for children, teenagers, and adults.
Copyright © 1991 by Charles de Lint. The poem first appeared in Desert Moments, published by Triskell Press. It may not be reproduced in any form without the author’s express written permission.