Analysis of Pygmies

Bambutis, nomads blending skin with trees,
In black and grey-tone photos under shade
Of leaf-draped huts are lounging spots, a maze.
I sip green boiled leaves and turn the page.
The jungle of Ituri's veiled in rain
And thick with mushrooms, nuts, bananas, roots
To eat at leisure. Tiny hunters came
To see the lens. I read of women, fruits,
Long net traps, and frightened beasts. Antelope
Hang poisoned (arrows tipped strophanthus) Not God
Alone bears witness. See the wound, the rope
That binds a four-foot man to prey! In bed
I dream of loin-cloths made from pounded bark
And let strophanthus (God!) fill up my dark.