Mapping Animal Guides on My Chakras Using AI and Pissing Everyone Off
“You’re a woman with French-Canadian roots and deep resentment toward the Catholic Church. What should you invoke, a meat pie?”
Muladhara: Watersnake
You can blame it on the asshole uncle
who killed the Northern Watersnake
for no reason, snatching it by the tail
and whipping her head against a rock.
Kids screamed and cleared the beach
where she thrashed and struck my towel.
A primal terror froze my limbs in place,
my bathing suit flooding hot with piss.
The snake musked to defend herself.
Brown lacquer smeared across the sand -
a smell so foul it unfroze me. From the
lake I watched her body spasm, go slack.
My uncle leered at kids inching forward.
Fuckers can still bite, even after they’re dead.
Underwater, eyes shut, I burbled a curse.
Wicked man. May she live to spite him.
Now, she’s coiled at my root, unspooling
to glide through rivers black with blood.
Submerged, safe, the skins she sheds
are mine. Whether you like it or not.
Svadhisthana: Honey Bee
My waggle-dance lands you in my fronds.
After, you stay in bed to read about Lenin.
I take a French shower, swipe lipstick and kohl,
head out for the primal sting of a stiff drink.
Foraging for sweetness, I’ll dance with anyone -
hothouse exotic, houseplant, wildflower, weed.
Slick with sweat, I’ll boogie ‘til ungodly hours
then Uber home, shoulders dusted with gold.
Manipura: Horse
Made for horizons and vaulted skies.
Watchful of herd, slinking predators.
Tolerant of saddle, even a spur to rib,
but will bluntly buck an asshole, bolt.
Anahata: Horseshoe Crab
Horseshoe crabs
survived the space
rock that wiped
out the dinosaurs.
450 million years old,
more spider than crab,
their blue blood glows
neon under black light.
A quart of their blood
costs around $15,000.
Used to test vaccines
and intravenous drugs,
cells called amebocytes
trap bacteria that
would rather
kill us.
Once, at Thomas Point,
I came upon a washed up
combat helmet, American,
circa World War II.
Nope. Horseshoe crab.
Dressed in ancient armor,
she offered up a message.
Some gifts need protection.
Vishuddha: Skunk
Stop expecting the Virgin Mary
when you know damn well
I’m Pepé Le Pew.
Ajna: Hawk
A mind that is all logic
is like a knife that is all blade.
Reading those words invoked
Red-tailed and Broad-winged,
the Cooper’s that whistled by
our heads to snatch the chick.
Sahasrara: Great Blue Heron
Ferme la bouche.
Shut the fuck up.
Stop.
Listen.
A still, small voice.
A song on the wind.
Wait…then.
Snatch it!
Great Blue Heron spears
Northern watersnake.
Eats her,
head first.
By tail, scales would
shred heron’s throat.
There’s the beginning.
Then, there’s the end.
In the meantime,
listen. Watch.