| Poem from Brush Country 2004 EPPIE winner for best poetry collection Brush Country Ribbons of light in the east unrolled
Forcing night to loosen its silent hold
On the dry Brush Country, calm and serene.
Then the quiet of the tranquil scene
Was broken as from the hard, cracked ground
There rose a mournful, whimpering sound;
A rabbit caught in the underbrush
Moaned into the tranquil hush.
Such a plaintive cry, it twisted and rose
Across the landscape's quiet repose;
Calling to the arid scene
A coyote-predator, lank and lean.
He stopped, and turned his mangy head,
Sniffed the air, then with deadly tread
Walked stiff-legged to the very spot
In the underbrush where the rabbit was caught.
The rabbit screamed! A cry of fear.
He knew his cruel departure was near.
Then the agony of a painful death,
Robbed him of his very breath.
The coyote's jaws in one powerful snap
Closed with the strength of strong steel trap
Around the body of his helpless prey,
Then stealthily, silently, he trotted away.
From his mouth there protruded, lifeless, pale
A dangling head and a cotton tail.
His feet loped over the barren ground
As he sped away, not making a sound.
Leaving only silence, a returning hush,
And gray fur clinging to the underbrush.
The world moved on in serenity.
How cruel is nature's majesty. | 
