Monday, July 20, 2009

The Power



The following is a true account. I am unaware of whether the practice still continues in Australia today.


THE POWER

Not the Dark Ages!
Nineteen-fifty-three.
A hospital in Darwin.
Australia.
*
A young Aboriginal man lies dying
In great agony.
No injuries,
No bruising,
No disease.
*
The young man tells authorities
That he is the victim
Of a 'singing'.
The Bone has been pointed
And he is bound to die.
So he does.
*
No amount of modern medicine,
No amount of supportive care
Could have saved him.
For someone had
Pointed the Bone.
*
Accused of incest
He had fled his tribe.
But a Ritual Killer had pursued him
With The Bone.
*
The Elder had gone down on one knee
Before him.
He had frozen with fear.
It was as though
He were being forced to sip poison!
*
He was a victim of
The Power.
*
Not the power of
The Bone,
But the power of Auto-Suggestion.
*

QUOTE
"Bone pointing" is a method of execution used by the Aborigines. It is said to leave no trace, and never fails to kill its victim. The bone used in this curse can be either human or animal. They look like a long needle. At the rounded end, a piece of hair is attached through the hole, and glued into place with a gummy resin from the spinifex bush. Before it can be used, the kundela is charged with a powerful psychic energy in a ritual that is kept secret from women and those who are not tribe members. To be effective, the ritual must be performed faultlessly. The bone is then given to the kurdaitcha, who are the tribe's ritual killers.These killers then go and hunt (if the person has fled) the condemned. The name, kurdaitcha comes from the slippers they wear while on the hunt. The slippers are made of feathers and human hair - they virtually leave no footprints.'
*
Superstition dies hard here:

3 comments:

quilly said...

The power to turn one's own mind against them -- sounds like the makings of a really good novel, but often truth is stranger than fiction.

I am reading all of your poems, but I cannot comment on them all. You are very prolific and I am pressed for time. There has been a 10 year lapse since I was last published, but I have finally started writing again and that has priority for my time.

latree said...

that's scary..

Kat said...

I think they should manufacture this in mass quantity and supply to the police and military..!!! :)))