Licking The Toad I Poem by Stan Petrovich

'Time rushes towards us with its hospital tray of infinitely varied narcotics, even while it is preparing us for its inevitably fatal operation.'
Tennessee Williams

That first wanderer who ate the peyote cactus
That reeks in the mouth like a filthy sock
Spread the news among the tribes who had discovered the
Mushrooms that made them see through reality-
And in South America there are jungles rife
With altering vines, corroborant herbs;
Many many many
Teaching that the gods live only through us, not above,
Because we can create worlds upon worlds in our reeling minds
While reading the thoughts and fears of others.