by LJ Frank
there is no uniform view of the state of the dead
no pigmentation on the scattered craniums
housing the thoughts of spiritual realms
buried under centuries of nameless generations
waiting to be remembered through a tool
perhaps made of wood, stone, metal, hair or bone
no inkling of the nomad’s individual brain
except where an inscribed column, artifact or cave painting is found
or a gravesite with ritualistic effects to communicate a belief
and other sites exist, but too many exhibitions of hangings
with markings to suggest that ancient Christs
were more plentiful than wanting to imagine
and cuneiform tablets with inscriptions of numbers
devised for the exchange of the material
with drips of bloodstains on some
still, I ponder as a lover of dance and voice
when the first steps and songs were created
in the ancient tangos, rumbas, and salsas of innuendo
body gyrating, wagging phallus, and bobbing mammilla
the ancient bones come to life
then dissipate into fossils and dust
a flame burns like a campfire on the horizon
against the dark hues of night
the spirit of their existence remains
an invisible ascent occurs in the Mind’s Eye
mammals competed and capital glorified beyond survival
and with the emerging centuries the anthropophaginian is in reality
the cannibal adorned with tactical projectiles of pride
and still, artificial coins and paper find a way to assuage the sheep
that even the sparrows are fed as their God reminds them
but in the deep past one can hear from the decaying bones –
be careful in the power, control and wealth you wish
for the universe is a cosmological expanding brain
with bursts of growing, uncontrollable energy
unimaginable pain and awesome splendor
and humans are passers-by with a paradoxical distant and ringside view
yet in the middle of it all one might ask
what were the thoughts in that primitive’s mind whose bones were found
intact but alone on a mountain, with no others nearby, –
is the grace of our evolution that which is bestowed on us
through our humane touch, sharing and imagination?