The dragons do not seek out men.
They hoard their wisdom like jewels.
The least scale from the belly of a dragon
Might ransom any of the kings of men.
The Chinese Dragons, part 4
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Tag Archives: mythology
How Those Boys Grew Up (Monster Slayer part 5)
Four days ago
These women dreamed in the sunlight
And now there are babies
Wriggling at their breasts.
Four days ago
These were babies crying
And now they are running everywhere
Playing huntsman.
Four days ago
These were boys playing
And now they practice shooting
And ask about their father.
Two Women and the Sun (Monster Slayer part 4)
Changing Woman said:
Such a dream I had.
The Sun himself took me as I slept!
I would not have thought him
Such a careful lover.
White Shell Woman said:
I slept, and as I slept
Old Sun, that sly fucker,
Came down and slipped it in me.
I woke still wet.
To Witness the Public Ceremonies of the Night
(a found poem, from the works of Washington Matthews)
It has lasted eight days before
the four singers,
after long and tedious instruction by the shaman,
come out
to sing this song.
Five hundred people are, perhaps, assembled
to witness the public ceremonies
of the night;
some have come
from the most distant parts
of the wide
Navajo
territory; all are preparedto hold their vigil until dawn.
A score or more of critics are in the audience
who know the song by heart and are
alert to discover errors.
It is a long song,
and consists almost exclusively of
meaningless
or archaic
vocableswhich convey no idea to
the mind of the singer. Yet not
onesyllable
may be forgotten
ormisplaced.
Ifthe slightest error is made,
it is at once proclaimed by the assembled critics,
the fruitless ceremony comes to an end, and
the five hundred disappointed spectators
disperse.
But
fortunatelythey are not as particular with all their songs
as they are
with this.
The Natural History of the Kraken, part 1
I.
Polytentacular, it grips
And rends to flinders passing ships.
II.
By covering itself with sand,
The Kraken poses as a Land—
And rises with an awful roar
When hapless sailors come ashore,
Till falling back, it drags them down
To whirl and spin, and fail, and drown.
III.
A dozen years have come and gone
Since when I held the watch at dawn
And through the water clear as air
Saw my own shadow riding there;
And stared into the glassy sea
As jelly eyes stared up at me.
The Things That Came (Monster Slayer part 3)
Out of some place they came
Out of any place they came
And everywhere out of place
Making the whole world out of place:
Kicking monster, old-age monster,
Yaitse, eye monster, rolling monster.
And that’s not all, there are
Monsters nobody ever saw.
Old man said:
Pretty soon
They gonna monster us all up —
Pretty soon, mind,
Be no more people.
Moccasin Game Song
This is what awful Yeitse said
At the moccasin game,
That great destroyer,
That bad fucking news:
Woe! Woe!
You should have left it where it was!
I would have played it there,
You should have let it lie!
Striking the ground hugely
So that the tent-rags shook,
He guessed wrong,
Knowing someone had moved the stone.
Monster Time (Monster Slayer part 2)
Some of the people were
Always up to no good,
Making up evil games.
Pretty soon they made some monsters.
Oh, women, women!
What did you need so badly,
What midnight things did you practice?
Now what will become of your own children?
Oh, men, men!
What did you want so much,
Why did you never stop?
Now what will become of your own children?
The Creation (Monster Slayer part 1)
The first people came up, they say,
Up through four worlds,
Up through a hollow reed, they say,
Up to this world.
When they arrived
This world was dark
Then someone said
It will not always be this way.
The clouds shone
Then birds came, talking loud.
Sun took hold the mountain
And leaped into the sky.
Day came
Then the waters rose in mist.
Spider-woman caught a fly
To celebrate dawn.
The Chinese Dragons 3
III.
It is a dragon that swallows the moon.
A dragon delivers the rising sun in its jaws.
Knowing nothing of despair or love,
While its heart remains hidden it cannot be killed.
Bag of Anything 