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God's drum, and other cycles from Indian lore cover

God's drum, and other cycles from Indian lore

Chapter 31: RAIN-IN-THE-FACE
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About This Book

A sequence of poems evokes dawn through dusk, prairie winds and dust, ritual dances and spirit songs, and mythic reckonings framed as a red apocalypse. Later cycles portray terraced Pueblo landscapes, potters, corn maidens, and ruined pueblos, while final pieces invoke Aztec gods and cosmology. The language is lyrical and imagistic, alternating intimate observation of natural life with ceremonially inflected reflections on death, renewal, and the drumlike rhythms of the earth.

RAIN-IN-THE-FACE

Rain in the face——
Rain in the face——
The world is gray with falling waters,
The world is sad with falling tears....
Alone I walked,
questioning Father Sky,——
Alone——
seeking to divine the cause of Sorrow....
They named me
Rain-in-the-Face....