O Y S T E R   B O Y   R E V I E W   [ 7 ]
Gary Snyder

O L D   B O N E S


Out there walking round, looking out for food,
a rootstock, a birdcall, a seed that you can crack
plucking, digging, snaring, snagging,
        barely getting by,

no food out there on dusty slopes of scree—
carry some—look for some,
go for a hungry dream.
Deer bone, Dall sheep,
        bones hunger home.

Out there somewhere
a shrine for the old ones,
the dust of the old bones,
        old songs and tales.

What we ate—who ate what—
        how we all prevailed.

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Two Gary Snyder Links:

The Circumambulation of Mt. Tamalpais by Gary Snyderat Spark, University of California, Davis.

Gary Snyder at Literary Kicks.

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"Old Bones" is a poem from Gary Snyder's Mountains and Rivers Without End, published by Counterpoint Press, 1996. Used by permission of the publisher.

Oyster Boy Review 7