Thunderbirds and Thinking Small

Photo of traditional Yup'ik art taken at the Bethel Museum,  courtesy of Kevin Morgan.

Thunderbirds and Thinking Small

Kevin sends me a photo
he knows I will love
the two of us have
whittled away many summer suns
speaking of these creatures
the monsters of his culture

the creature that appears
on my phone, in my hand
ancient Yup'ik art on seal gut

imagine, I reply
 ---- digital smoke signals
ones and zeroes across infinite mountains ---
what it was like 
birds that could carry away
caribou, a whale
a hunter in his kayak

funny how we never hear about the raptors
in the time of mega-fauna
soaring above mammoth carcasses
snarling scimitar cats, cave bears, dire wolves

I picture them, these enormous avians
feathered Cessnas, with harpoon talons

Kevin brings me back to earth,
to our time, and with his joke
reminds me how my whiteboy brain
has much to learn:

      Or maybe we're thinking
      in the wrong direction
      maybe it's a miniature 
      caribou roaming the
      tundra, small enough to
      be eaten by ptarmigan.





[Poem for April 20th,  National Poetry Month. Final stanza, taken from a text message, written by Kevin Morgan, 4/18. Photo of Yup'ik designs on seal gut by Kevin Morgan taken at the Bethel Museum. ---- Thanks, Kevin the inspiration. Always!]