The Shaman Rattles the Goat Hooves
“Nepal Old Woman” by Audrey Kon, image courtesy of the author
The Shaman Rattles the Goat Hooves
and invites me to journey inside the birch tree.
She tells me to find my way down
to the bowels of the earth
where tree roots talk to one another,
an intricate network of conversation
cloaked in stem and root, in branch and bark.
And I hold my breathing tight in my chest
as I descend down the inside of the trunk,
bumping my shoulders against the interior rings,
rings concentric around my waist.
Here, I am softly corseted
by her interior, giving safe passage
to the earth below this floor of forest.
A carpet of pine needles, sharp edges softened.
I land in this pine blanket--
Afghan Mother Earth.
I am greeted by faceless shadows,
circular dancers, all holding hands,
then linked elbows, then shoulders close, touching.
Spinning one against the other. Chest pressed to chest.
Shoulder blades pressed to shoulder blades.
A whirling dervish of shadows and singing.
With a drone hum as deep as the earth,
I am invited to join their circle
where I twirl and spin on the very edges of my toes.
We are insteps arched, we are backs arched,
we are throats open to the scent of pine.
I am a gyroscope of motion, my arms interwoven
with these song-infused shadows,
whole bodies as musical notes moving
across a page of manuscript.
The rattle of goat hooves
calls me to the surface.
My body flows up the trunk,
ferrying through the skin of xylem
returning me to suspended branches
where I chant praise songs, where I weave
blue lights into the cloudy night,
where I sing effortlessly
long, long into the night.
After having taught middle and high school English for 32 years, Marianne Peel is now nurturing her own creative spirit. She has spent three summers in Guizhou Province, teaching best practices to teachers in China. She received Fulbright-Hays Awards to Nepal (2003) and Turkey (2009). Marianne participated in Marge Piercy’s Juried Intensive Poetry Workshop (2016). Marianne’s poetry appears in Muddy River Poetry Review, Belle Reve Literary Journal, Jelly Bucket Journal, Gyroscope Review, among others. She has a collection of poetry forthcoming in 2021 from Shadelandhouse Modern Press.
(c) 2021 Marianne Peel