TOTEM

TOTEM

I shut down
all my memories
of my childhood
and the place
I was born

had to do so
because they
had gotten
out of control
were
   overpowering me

taking me back
to a time without limbs
horrific venom.and
no ability
to walk
only slither and crawl

and there
in a bold new
brave new land

the mindful ones
wiping out rattlers and vipers
with pump-
action guns

for the land be safe and
clear and clean
not only so
but sacred
and exceptional

what was before but
a pile of bleached bones

a cairn beside a church
with
   whitewashed walls
and
from ocean
to ocean
    real regular worship

diamondback
the totem
   by which you
                     might indeed
come
    to approach me.