Gary Snyder

Old Woman Nature

Old Woman Nature
naturally has a bag of bones
               tucked away somewhere.
               a whole room full of bones!
 
A scattering of hair and cartilage
              bits in the woods.
 
A fox scat with hair and a tooth in it.
              a shellmound
                     a bone flake in a streambank.
 
A purring cat, crunching
              the mouse head first,
                      eating on down toward the tail—
 
The sweet old woman
              calmly gathering firewood in the
              moon...
 
Don’t be shocked,
She’s heating you some soup.
Other works by Gary Snyder...



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