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![]() | Gary Snyder
POEMS FROM MYTHS & TEXTS (1960) Reed College, February 14, 1956 |
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This poem became “Hunting 8.” Variants. In Line 7 “down” for “back” in published text. In “Home by night” section, a line is read that was later cut: “Nothing has been explained” after the line “A mile past the mill-pond.” In Line 42, “Orion” comes after “hunter’s belt”; cut from final. Before Line 47, Snyder says: “Little Tlingit Song.” After Line 51, four lines added: “Bucked logs lie by the skid-trail / Deer thread through / Cat shut down / Men all eating lunch.” These lines were cut from published text.
BEASTS
Introductory Remarks to “Beasts”
“First Shaman Song: In the village of the dead…”
“‘Birds’—Birds in a whirl, drift to the rooftops…”
“The swallow shell that eases birth…”
“Now some poems about bears…”
“‘Deer’—I dance on all the mountains…”
“‘Tiger’s Song’: I gnaw the body of delight…”
“The head of the mountain goat is in the corner…”
“‘Mouse’— Cat wouldn’t finish that mouse…”
“Two Dance Songs for a Four-Crowned Dancing Hat”
“This is a poem for Maitreya, the future Buddha…”
“Gull came down slantwise over the deck…”
“This is in the Olympics, the Grey Wolf Valley…”
“The Dosewallips Valley…In the ruins of a CCC shelter…”
“First day of the world…”
“How rare to be born a human being…”

