badger poem
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 | subtle juxtapositions
*tanuki-bozu*
no longer able to fight off wolf or bear,
tanuki, the badger, had lived so long
he had begun to lose his teeth;
teeth that had once been
strong enough
to crack bone …feeling his destiny
narrowing down
to becoming a meal,
& perhaps a paint brush,
or a bit of trim on
the hem of a robe,
he turned to consuming
the rotten fruit of the forest,
staying drunk,
& growing fat
…the local folk told stories
of his shape-shifting magic,
tho he would have readily admitted
that it was really more a matter of
reinvention
…the local folk swore
that they had seen him
as a one-eyed hag, or a teapot,
or most often as a fat buddhist monk
…’yes, yes’, he says;
‘i know exactly what i am,
& what i am not’
–teketen-taketen-taketen
dokodondokodondokodon–
he plays his belly like a drum & sings
‘pom-pokopom pom-pokosho’
