Sunday, September 07, 2003

Last of the Elevenses

in the season of monarchs
when the grasshopper flies
upon the prairie
i crossed Walnut Creek, Trail Creek,
   Uncle John Creek, Winter Camp Creek,
and entered the Cheyenne-Arapaho Nation

Medicine Man Moses called on spirits
   of south-east, south-west, north-west,
   north-east, and the Great Spirit of the East
breathe through us sacred winds

Later, Moses blessed the drum
which would serve as alter
and we broke fry-bread together
The last of the series written while my lady friend, Elsie, is out of town. Elsie is en route home by way of Miami and DFW as I write. I have called this series "novena" simply because it was a shared discipline which has lasted just a bit over nine days. Today's entry may be an aide memoire, since it records what I did yesterday (after mowing the lawn).

The Medicine Man really was named Moses, and they really did use fry-bread for the communion host. The grasshoppers out-numbered the monarch butterflies, and I was obviously more glad to see the latter, but both seemed tokens of the season in Oklahoma.

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