Your Shaman Charged Too Much


The shaman charged you too much

for your own breath.

The savior hid your soul under a cup

and switched it with his own.

The guru ran off with your Shakti

during the honeymoon,
Your soul came home weeping and ashamed.

Meanwhile the leftist tricked you

into thinking you were a victim,

while the fascist promised to make you great again

if you worshiped his flag and carried an AR-15.

The yoga teacher told you your body was God

but the new age channeler of Ascended Masters 
insisted your flesh was an illusion.

So you took a workshop in Bali
with a non-duality master who used to be
a tennis pro named Marvin
but calls himself Ananda now,

and spent the whole $5000 weekend
reminding you that he teaches Nothing
because there is no one to teach.

You felt guilty when you cancelled his check

and sent him a new one made out for zero.

Maybe that's why you went back to church

and tried to feel like a sinner

so you could get saved,

but there was Nothing to get saved from.

What will you do now

that you've followed every path

and wound up here

in the old growth forest again?

Don't become a cynic, friend.

Just take off your shoes and wander

all night barefoot on broken moonbeams

among the Bleeding Fairy Helmets,

fungi mycena haematopis,

sprawling in trillium, cradled by cedar roots.
Listen through the darkest hours
to raven croak and owl wing whisper,

embodying the howl of grandma coyote,

until you're lost enough to cry,

'I am home, I am home!'

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