Shiwanna (1) (cont’d)
The rain priest of Hawikuh has
one nephew just past his seventh winter,
his youngest sister’s child & the one
he favors to succeed him. At his suggestion
they bring the boy into the kiva,
turn him naked in a circle
& sixteen pairs of eyes can find
no mark or scar. They ask him
Will you do this for the People, for Shiwanna?
It’s dangerous! But he says Yes.
They turn him to face each of the six
cardinal points, including zenith
& nadir, have him lie down on
a deerskin pelt & drink the acrid
tea of sacred Datura.
His breath slows, goes south:
A place where the mountains smoke
he murmurs.
Corpses bob in every lake & river
while the living men women even children
dig tunnels quick as hungry shrews
hollow out the hearts of hills
leaving fields fallow lousy with weeds
the Corn Maidens wander in circles dizzy
as the last ears turn sour in the storerooms
only a few men have food
but they too go at it with a crazy haste
eating it seems on behalf of all the others
whose teeth rattle in rotten gums
can you hear them
scrambling down ladders deep in the ground
as if to reverse the Emergence
while some of the eaters go about
in great folds of cloth like moving mountains
hidden except for their hands & heads
shaved crowns glowing pink
an albino’s ensorcelled eye
