“One Should Not Talk to a Skilled Hunter
About What Is Forbidden by the Buddha”

A gray fox, nine pounds three ounces.
39 5/8″ long with tail.
Peeling back skin (Kai
reminded us to chant the Shingyo first)
cold pelt. crinkle; and musky smell
mixed with dead-body odor starting.

Stomach content: a whole ground squirrel well chewed
plus one lizard foot
and somewhere from inside the ground squirrel
a bit of aluminum foil.

The secret.
and the secret hidden deep in that.

– Gary Snyder