Ritual Business

.

At his bathing place
he prepares his twig bundles
a sentry box with spook paintings
his shrine contains
masks and skulls maybe
empty eyesockets
desiccated corpse

Once at Ahousat
a wolf walked into
somebody's whaling shrine

Wolves are pretty strong but
that wolf dropped dead
on the spot

Makah Indian whalers, from Artwork of Seattle and Western Washington, W.D. Harney Photogravure Publisher, 1910: photo by Asahel Curtis, 2008
Makah Indian whalers stripping their prey at Neah Bay, from Artwork of Seattle and Western Washington, W.D. Harney Photogravure Publisher, 1910: photo by Asahel Curtis, 2008
The King of the Seas in the Hands of the Makahs, from Artwork of Seattle and Western Washington, W.D. Harney Photogravure Publisher, 1910: photo by Asahel Curtis, 2008