Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

The Hopi Indians believe the Kachinas
     messengers to the gods, these trailways 
     abide in San Francisco Peaks —

before my time                   in the Painted Desert
           perched in isolation        on three mesas
the Hopi dances       petition spirits who bring the rain
                                 inducing the land to yield

               in patterns       set by the 'ancients'
                         inducing the sun to start its journey
               the rites concern the tribal welfare

           properly dressed and painted the part
the Hopi wears his chosen Kachina mask, moccasins 
           a collar of scratchy evergreens
 
               in kilt and sash
                                  his legs and torso bare
         imbued with a spirit-father, in rhythmic patterns 
         dances with lively steps, singing
                in clear tones
         deep attachment to the mesaland

                  cottonwood trees along the larger streams
                  deserts slashed by canyons, twisting rivers
                           plentiful yucca in porous sandy clay
                  forest slopes rise to snowcapped peaks

moisture is life                 in this region
scattered tracts of fertile soil
             Kachinas yielding ample crops

      in a tribal sense    in Kachina rites
      characters descend from sky-hole passage 
      subterranean, into sacred chambers
                                    sheltered in the kiva
                                    heated, earthpacked floors

      earth bound ceremonials 
            details expressing persona

                  thru months of sculptured snow plateaus 
                      shaping forms from Underground 
                      cloistered men
       
                                             facing sunrise
                                                                    in Spring
      when the weather begins to turn 
      Kachina dances             in the village plaza

                  planting sacred seeds for harvest
                  reenacting drama fashioned in festive colors
                                           nature blooming flowers

      for the clans 
                        Sun-Father warms the Mother-Earth

the initiate dancers          repeat cycles
                                                   sunrise & sunset

                  they reflect      god-personating
                  mythic scenes performed in mask
                           Kachina dances
                                           the Winter & Summer Solstice

each begins     before the dances
                             cloistered men in preparation
                                             busy in kiva workshops
                carving small kachina dolls in ancient likeness

                        in ceremonials
                                               (children learning tradition
                                        the Hopi girls & boys
                                        receive their gift
                kachina tihu, dolls,      bows & arrows
                                   gifts to learn to follow
                        the spirit trailways
                                             are no toys, for sure —
 
northeast Arizona, last July
                                          (12 months backtracking now
& present-time in Buffalo —
            for sure, the Hopi know their way —

the old man's face leatherskin wrinkled silent
                          across that cabin —
his blue-clay Kachina plaque hanging now on this wall 
                           (doll face carving image
                                           a salvage-diver's helmet 
                                           in deep-sea
                                                                    blue —

      he ain't said outright yet
      why the first doll I got
                                        is Mudhead.





*
 
Mudhead      beckons
                                  come with me
                                  all of us home, babe

up from Underground the Ant People kiva
     from First World to now
        the Yoni/Lingum      Devine Desire
               germination everywhere

Indrus Valley     Buffalo     Grand Canyon

on top a high foothill of First Mesa
                 three miles north of the gap
between mesa rocky walls
                 the narrow valley curving
stretching outcrops of dark jagged rock above
in dunes of yellow sand below
                                               patchs grow
                 corn     and peach tree orchards

                 (& fallen walls covered with drifting sand 
                 great plazas overgrown with weeds, 
                 desolate waste littered with broken clay —
                                picture writing of human figures
                                            at the Center of the Universe
                                                the Road of Life