lookout", "Coyote almost whistling on a near
mountain ridge". In shamanism and Native
American folklore, the coyote is an important
spirit animal associated with psychotropic visions
and altered trance-like states. Similarly from the
mountain appears a piece of rock with seams of
crystal which works as a metaphor for sudden
enlightenment. This loose sutra is a picture of the
mind moving, a tautology and a result of a
shamanic style experience. In the writing of Lew
Welch, another roommate of Whalen and Snyder,
we see a similar experience of wonder in "ring of
bone". Here we see singular, one-dimensional
clarity characteristic of visual poetry. Snyder tells
us that "Lew really achieved the meeting of the
ancient sage tradition". Welch himself tells us that
"the (shamanic) ecstasies get to the point that it is
physically painful".
XVI
The shaman has long been associated with the
jungle and wilderness. The diametric opposite of
the urban. If we examine Allen Ginsberg we see
that his single goal in life is not far from this. His
56