Sonata for Piano and Coyote

Listening to the lugubriously

Lento piano of Für Alina

In a car parked wayside in falling snow,

It’s amusing when one of the pauses

(Visualize long fingers hovering,

Resisting gravity over the keys)

Gets squarely, perfectly punctuated

By the yelp of a nearby coyote

Up to whatever in the junipers.

Now the pauses read as invitations,

The pianist hoping to coax response

Again, out of the wild snowy mesa.

And wouldn’t that mess with your conception

Of cause-and-effect, collaboration?