Mongolian Art Exhibit
“whatever holds value
may be divine…”
My eye pulls my feet
through artifacts gathered
from thousands of years ago.
I gaze at the human skull—
silver-lined, translucent
brown thin-ness. I ponder core stones
flaked for hunting and tools.
Hear the primordial sound
of the cosmos hum in my ear. Om
resonates in the crevices of my brain.
In vain I look for pictures of a people
who still traverse wind-laden steppes,
live out their nomad lives
in gray wool-felt shelters, take pride
in fleet and sturdy horses.
I turn a corner, stunned now by faces
on the wall—masks of deities, shamans,
in papier-mâché, carved wood, stuffed skin.
Black brows pull down over glaring eyes,
red mouths stretch in snarls or gentle smiles.
I draw near the image of the Heart Shaman,
likened to great poets of all the ages,
born only once each one hundred years.
The face I dream about
is a very old woman, the essence of sorrow.
Forehead furrowed, eyes close to weeping,
her ear-lobes hang past her shoulders,
corners of the full mouth droop
to her chin—the Brain Shaman. She can see
into the next thousand years.
Published in Ink &
Ashes, 2005
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