This poem became “Hunting 11,” titled “songs for a four-crowned dancing hat.” This was the first completed poem in what would become Myths & Texts. Variant: Between lines 7 & 8, GS reads the line “—the body of maiden earth—” At end of poem, he says, “He wore a four-crowned hat and came out of the sea.”

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…”

Back to the Myths & Texts table of contents.