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Poetry
Listening to “The Singing Wire” Sundays at Noon, with Dogs
My local public radio station carries NPR until noon on Sundays —
The Puzzler with Will Shorts, Weekend Edition with Lulu Garcia-Navarro,
An hour of local New Mexico events. Then, from 1:00 to 4:00,
Until my slow, hygge world is disrupted by the news of the world,
The dogs and I listen to “The Singing Wire.”
New Mexico is Indian Country — Nineteen Native Pueblos.
Acoma, Chochiti, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna; Nambe, Ohkay Owingeh,
Picuris, Pojoaque; Sandia, San Felipe, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara;
Santo Domingo, Taos, Tesuque, Zuni, and Zia.
Twelve thousand years of civilization, all the way back to Clovis.
The dogs don’t care — they dig the beating of the drums, the lively chants,
The steady jingle of the dancers, the language of their first people:
New Mexico’s San Felipe Pueblo; Montana’s Fort Belknap Reservation Assiniboine. Little Bird takes a running jump to the couch and curls into a tight circle. Her silky head nestled between two elegant paws, she drifts into a deep sleep.
