A freshwater person living uphill from a city of saltwater people recalls a child's sunburnt skin peeling like a Neolithic frieze, "whether we know its meaning or not." Passed a sharp turn and continued straight ahead, stepping over long arms of ancient roots, until I found I'm walking in a dry stream bed

carved by floods morphed into sand flecked with leaves of desaturating degrees of color: these paths walked with a shaman, rattling “one spirit within another.” Awoke then, to when prayers were sung with pollen flying up the nose; with "his bird sneeze in one hand / And his death-chill in the other."

 

 

whether we know: D. Lewis-Williams and D. Pearce, Inside The Neolithic Mind. London, 2005.
one spirit within: R. Bringhurst, “The Heart of Consciousness: Mark Dickinson Conversation with Robert Bringhurst.” PAN: Philosophy, Activism, Nature no. 14, 2019
his bird sneeze: T. Hughes. From, "Crow Improvises."