the road from the world behind ends here
by the river
in the canyon
through the ryegrass
by the deer path
receding sun draws a curtain up the stone
still hot as fever on my hands
fingers trace the cupules and grooves
memory in my flesh in my bone
dream-time
gray half-moon billows out
like a blanket in the wind
salmon ghosts thrum the whorls of the river
pebbles click down the mountain
down through the strata
down through the ryegrass
down to the water
the ancient bed
obsidian granite schist basalt
slabs shards shattered spine of the world
protrudes vertebral from the water
shaman shakes the double-headed staff
by the water
in the sunset
in the moonrise
by the ryegrass
in the canyon
oreamnos and white-tail leap from rock
hunters hurl atlatl darts
coyote howls a dark patina
great mother spearpoint pubis
opens arms breasts round as planets
her hips the twin horizons
moon over earth
in the evening
in the morning
by the ryegrass
on the deer path
desiccated bone glitters to dust
becomes sand becomes the river
becomes the soil at the meeting of waters
hearbeats ten millennia old
stretch across worlds
the pulse of a universe
a drum in the firelight
in the spirit-time
on the deer path
through the ryegrass
by the river
twins join hands pinwheel the stars
dance the dance of the water-rhythm
dance the dance of the salmon-thrash
dance the dance of the camas root
dance the dance of the hunters’ hunt
dance the dance of the old moon new
dance the dance of the seasons turning
dance the dance of the mother’s blood
in the spinning
in the embers flying skyward
days and nights flash by
like clapping hands
rocks split and tumble into talus
ryegrass grows then withers
like a woman’s hair
vortex in the water
down and down through earth
through flesh
in the canyon
on the deer path
through the ryegrass
by the half-moon
in the sunset
in the firelight
in the moonrise
by the river
in the firelight
in the moonrise
by the river
