Victory Lee Schouten
Excerpt from KotaPress Poetry Anthology Volume 2, 2002

Wily Coyote in the Land of Love

The old sorrow
rises and clings
just beneath my skin.

Dampened fury flares,
my good friend stolen
by the hated plague.

I close my eyes
and conjure his escape
from the bitter bone cage.

Remembering too well
fierce black pain
morphine could not quiet.

I knew the secret
true believer,
disguised as worldly cynic.

The gourmet cook and opera buff
bringing home street-boys
and praying for true love.

His elegant jokes
of a successful diet
lost their punch.

Hard to laugh
at familiar gestures
made with skeletal hands.

You sorry little trickster,
I even miss your lies.

Author Bio
Originally from Central Washington¹s Yakima Valley, Victory Lee Schouten has made her home on Whidbey Island for the past twelve years. While both places strongly inform her writing, it is the human experiences she depicts which imbue her poetry with the insights, warmth and wit her work is known for. A frequent reader/performer around the Pacific Northwest, Victory¹s first book and CD, Wolf Love, a handmade limited-edition was published last year. Victory and her husband Rob founded Great Path Publishing at:
www.greatpath.com