AROUGHCAN* ©

The raccoon is always with me.
I took the orphaned cub young
from where she chittered wildly
her back arched on the swaying limb.
She who scratches with her hands was easily made tame.

Her pixilated spirit undisguised behind a foxlike face
she would nuzzle at the rubber nipple
then finding it, nurse fiercely – clutching the bottle
with long claws on curiously delicate human paws.

When rocked, she would curl a quiet conundrum
ball‑like in the curve of my arm
hiding her face in the crease of a sleeve;
then suddenly awake, her whiskers bristling

she would scale a shoulder, plucking at the flannel collar
hanging downwards to explore a pocket
twirling the shirt's bottoms
with a contented purr. I would tickle her fine‑furred

underside, and she would wrestle bearclawed:
snarling, sidling sideways in mock battle
curled lips over bared teeth.
Loyal only to me – until a friendly bite drew blood.

I carried her wildness, caged, down to the wooded riverbank,
the sound of her half‑grown churls cutting
like sharp sighs through the rough prairie grass.
Opening the wired door, with cooled anger

I coaxed her out on the damp sand.
She lay sprawling on the water's edge:
black eyes bulging, feigning death.
I stroked her coarse back, trailing a hand cross‑purpose

to the straight‑ringed tail. She stiffened, suddenly alert
an ancient anima raising up on her haunches.
I backstepped through the fields
retreating to the darkened house. I return again –

and again – to the river's living bank
but only see tiny footprints
cutting crosspaths in the sand.
Once I followed the tracks where the narrowed loess trail

made close passage through rocks, trees and stumps.
The mischievous bearer of the hot nocturnal soul
had long since retreated, waiting out of sight.
Tonight I go again to take the raccoon back to the wilderness.



*AROUGHCAN: [pronounced ah‑rew‑cahn] Indian dialect, for raccoon.



Navigating the Platte, Ohio University, Creative Thesis, 1986

The Pearl, The University of New Mexico
Alliance for Academic Excellence, 1987