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RIDING THE DRUM
They call it
'Riding the drum' -
A drum itself painted
With records of journeys.
To the far north.
To the far south.
To caverns underground.
To the Pole Star.
What is the shaman doing?
Beating his drum,
Entering his trance,
He is trying to discover
Another self,
An escape from the self,
A way of becoming the other.
And what is this other?
A bird, a beast, a fish,
A being of the opposite gender.
He returns wearing
feathers or scales.
He returns with his balls cut off.
He returns with aching shins,
A dry mouth,
The feeling that death has entered
And sits in the hollow of his bones
Urging yet one more journey.
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