And I forgot I'm--
I said I would read one more other poem.
This one's called " Tsílii," again, a sestina.
I promise, if you ever start writing sestinas,
you're going to be like me.
You're going to be just writing them all the time because they
really take a hold of you, and they just take your life over.
[LAUGHTER]
"Tsílii."
"Sometimes this guy just makes me laugh.
Just as easily, he can make me see red,
like when he tries to take off, as if he thirsts for freedom.
Actually, he needs me like a dog needs a pack.
Besides, he loves my crew cab truck.
When he first noticed my jewelry,
I became the woman for him.
Not only that, but because I'm a Diné woman,
his life revolves around me.
Now he recognizes my laugh from a distance.
Some evenings, we go for rides in the truck
down Winding River Road, as the sky fills
with purple and red streaks.
To the south, people walk along the Rillito, their dogs' noses
bent to the ground.
The dogs are excited and thirsty.
A Diet Coke is enough to quench my thirst.
In the Southwest, the quintessential pleasures
for women are a faithful car, good music, and good stories.
We're not dogged by having to drive hundreds of miles.
We just reminisce, laugh, and sometimes sing.
During trips north to Shiprock, dust turns everything red
as the vast Salt River Canyon welcomes my truck.
It is, as we used to say, we keep on trucking
through whatever may come our way.
Our thirst for stories and laughter never ceases.
Once, I read that animals make life complete.
But a woman like me needs more than that, I thought and laugh.
Then I remembered the cats, rabbits, chickens,
and dogs of my childhood, how Lobo, Snazzy,
and Tłog'í didn't seem like dogs.
They listened, ever alert, while lying under Daddy's truck.
They probably never even slept.
Sometimes, they even seemed to laugh when we spoke English.
But back to this other guy, he thirsts
to be near me, even when I'm driving.
Move over, I say.
A woman needs space and no distractions.
Sit on your side before red lights come flashing.
I'll be handcuffed and read my rights,
and you won't even care.
Act like a dog and look out the window, I said.
[LAUGHTER]
He knows when a woman means business.
He moves slowly over to the passenger side door
and looks at me, his dark shiny eyes thirsty for affection.
He gets the same look when I laugh unexpectedly.
And he doesn't laugh when I talk English, like those rez dogs.
But those dogs instilled in me a thirst for a sleek, little dog,
a tsílii who likes trucks and lives only to make his mom
a happy woman."
[LAUGHTER]