Born at the base of the Adobes
where salt-encrusted mesas
rise at discouragingly steep
pitches. Stunted growth.
Few plants tolerate
the acidity and drought.
Teenagers throw beer bottles
and busted TVs, littering
the gravely dirt with bullet shells
scarring it with donuts
and burnouts. In the land
where car frames
and bedframes are
never discarded.
Coyote saw the woman
toiling up the steep slope,
her pregnant belly
scratched by saltbush
and feet bleeding from cactus:
Turn around and run,
he warned.
Instead she stayed and
gave birth to her son
and built her house
with the yellow adobe clay,
then watched him grow
into a giant man
whom she feared.