Allison Adelle Hedge Coke Poems

—for Travis and Vaughan and all the St. Catherine's Indian School kids

dust, leaves twirling
whirlpool
up off road
...

Feet firmly perch
thinnest stalks, reeds, bulrush.
Until all at once, they attend my
female form, streaked throat, brownness.
...

Thirteen years ago, before bulk barns and
fifth gear diesel tractors, we rode royal blue tractors with
toolboxes big enough to hold a six pack on ice.
In the one hundred fifteen degree summer
...

Underneath ice caps, once glacial peaks
deer, elk, vixen begin to ascend.
Free creatures camouflaged as
waves and waves receding far
...

—in borrowed language in honor and memory of Bill Ice


Like a horse's tail
so thick, black
down past his waist
...