Chumash Dreams
Saturday poetry prompt: ‘Soothing Fires’
I stood in the clearing and heard the Dream Sage
hit the flames, crackled and sizzled, purifying the air —
awakening dancing spirits in my head
A soothing drumbeat swayed my body on the mountain floor —
swirling energy, a revival of generations lost,
ancients flew in the sky like hawks — owls hooted in the trees
The native chants put me in a transcendent daze,
drunk on wind and sacred comfort, the soothing firepit
lit up the sky as if resurrecting my soul,
revealing untold mysteries, forgotten memories
A Chumash spirit guide drew me closer
where nature and the Gods came together
in a romance by the fire — the mythic past and present
converged into a winsome melody
The sky spoke in indigenous whispers —
the pulse and the pull of tribal elders,
the moon's marker of time —
the power of the stars at night
I tossed more sage into the flames —
my eyes stung from the smoke, and I felt dizzy —…
