For Friday - Erika Meitner

From 'Elegy'

...I was at the Museum
of Natural History today--

dinosaur bones set carefully, dioramas
of Neanderthals in cases reenacting hunts, and an exhibit

on body art entitled "Marks
of Identity" this is what I learned:

that in the afterlife, where all things are reversed,
dark tattoos shine brightly

to illuminate a path
for the dead. I learned

that women shamans
painted their bodies

with vicious snakes and jaguars
to protect them in journeys

to the spirit world. I learned
that the female body

must be marked
before it can serve

as a vehicle for the spirit.