Coyote Bark

After developing in California and becoming a part of the poetic "scene" it wasrecognized as a "zine". I brought myself and the new long format to Aspen where it wasproperly labeled a "rag" by Mary Hayes, of the Aspen Times, who was part of the Beatscene of the 50's. So, I gave birth to the name "Ragazine".

Coyote is about stretching your imagination. The stuff of legend, a wild and ornerycritter, which makes him dear to our heart. In Aspen it's like Hunter Thompson, he's anold man coyote, teacher of "mind expanding" experiences and ideas. The keeper of thedoorway to the wild west of Woody Creek!

Coyote is evasive, he's about things we don't see, that we can only imagine. He hasmagical power, he's mysterious, ubiquitous, energetic, something loose in the world. Yet it is in everything, free-traveling, aimlessly wandering about the world, here andthere. Always moving on, performing life's great joys - the lover, living in the greatmystery. Coyote is about doing things your own way; he reminds us of ourselves.

The dictionary defines Coyote as wolf-like: makes me think of Little Red Riding Hood -but today she's riding on a Harley and hanging out at the big, bad Howling Wolf. And ofcourse, there's slang. Coyote person is someone who smuggles Mexican-Americansacross the border just south of here, at latitude 28 degrees. Mexico is the capital ofCoyote lore, a place where he was worshipped by ancient people as God-like. They havea hero, the Poet King named Nezahualcoyotl, which means "fasting coyote," who trulybelieved that "happy are those who stop to smell the flowers." That's doing the coyotething, just hanging around being present, seeing the spirit in all.

But like Mr. Buffett says, "Changes in latitude, changes in attitude". For the Anglos whoarrived later, "coyote" is a derogatory term used for "contemptible" people. It's anattitude for people who believe that "owning" a few thousand acres of the wide openspaces makes them bigger than kings And coyote just laughs and goes about hisbusiness of preying on varmints, including some of the "hoofed locusts" the strangersbrought with them.

Though Coyote is considered by some overcivilized creatures to be the scum of the earth,he is also credited with rearing Pecos Pete, an American legend who was born under thescorching sun of the red hot desert, sagebrush and the prickly cactus and could lassotornadoes with the rattlesnake he wore around his neck.. Coyote is way, way cool,singing the blues, wearing dark shades and a scarf around his neck, the desert song dog. He doesn't drive a Range Rover, or read the best sellers or shop at Sak's, and he doesn'torder explosives to blow things up -- that's just in the Loonytoons. It's we who are likeWile E. Coyote, the mechanical genius who never gets the roadrunner. It's a statementabout the times, that ever evasive American dream that gets harder and harder to catch.

We've been sold out, duped! We've fooled ourselves, that's the lesson in trickery, don'tblame Coyote. We created Wile E. Coyote to laugh at ourselves and our Dr. Strangeloveworld. Nobody wants to see him win, they want the genius to fail: we need to believethat we too can outrun and outsmart the bomb makers. We need Wile. E. Coyote to fail,it's comic relief in a loonytoon world. Even if it's not real, it's Coyote's destiny to bemaligned and misunderstood - the clown, the trickster who mirrors our own fantasies. Sodon't get too caught up in what you see in his eyes, hear in his howl. Just look at Coyotenow - he's everywhere, on t-shirts and weathervanes, in lawn sculptures and salt shakers,his name is claimed by restaurants, baseball teams and sexworkers' unions, the pet ofavante-garde consumers trying to buy their way to freedom.

That cool Coyote image - people make money off it, who've never seen or heard him. Coyote is the survivor, the hero in every movie and book, he is a true artist, he's not amaster, but he is real, he knows how to survive even though he knows he's a victim ofthose who hate, or love, without a cause. Coyote is like not knowing the secrets of thegreat mystery, he's too big to comprehend. So you can just leave it alone or capitalize onit, which is the American way - dominate it, buy it, control it. It's amazing what we do tothings we don't understand and can't. Discrimination's the disease of addiction to control. But Coyote always comes back: he's the undying individual in us, the rebel, the NicholasCage, the Juliette Lewis in us, but he is better at it than we are.

Coyote is not all the mythologies that we make up. He's more than we can imagine. Tokeep up with him you have to rise to your own star being, take control of your life. Be apsychic voyager, follow the pathway to your own light source. If you've been lookingfor the truth outside of yourself, look no further because you are the source of your owntruth.

We're accelerating into the 21st century -- the world as we thought it was, never was -and never will be. If you're not going with the flow now, then when? As Ken Keseysaid, you're either "on the bus or off the bus," and if you're off the bus then you'd betterget some good insurance because you could be roadkill. If you're willing to look intoyourself - then fasten your seat belt, it's time to go. Drive on, Coyote!

July 4th celebration is coming, a tradition that represents the declaration of independentpeople. It states: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all beings are createdequal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; amongthese are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" (or money).

The words of free people written down, never to be altered (only expanded upon). So we can pursue a life of tranquillity, security and good health for all into thefuture. We should never let go of that precious liberty to reach our highest idealsand goals. True liberty lies within each individual. We carry our own torch forliberty. It means responsibility -- living together where the concern for one humanbeing becomes the concern of all. Those that strive for liberty are all one at heart.

Coyote Bark Poetic Art represents the freedom of the individual and the voice ofall free spirits. I hope this gives the reader some insight into what the Coyote Barkis all about. It's a labor of love guided by spirit and the poetic artists whom Iencounter on the pathway of life.

Hinton Harrison II
Publisher
Box 9385, Aspen CO 81612
925-0607