Doug McHargue asks an important question in her poem after Steve McCurry’s photograph of Hamer Tribe youth in Ethiopia. Photo taken courtesy of Roger and Ginny Sanford at the Art of Poetry event, September 19, 2015 at Hickory Museum of Art.
Doug McHargue
DANCE ON THE BROWN EARTH
after “Hamer Tribe, Ethiopia” by Steve McCurry
Is this how we came to be,
out of the cloud
with joy, flinging
our arms not caring
where they swing,
what they touch
but throwing ourselves
into it all
so this brown earth
knows, feels our prints.
Then this is where
it gets tricky,
the middle part,
what we do here
until we go back
in the dust.
Art of Poetry at the Hickory Museum of Art 
Thank you, Patricia and Kelly for your generous comments. It’s so good to get to be part of this art program.
I absolutely love this poem, Doug. One of the best I have ever read anywhere!!
The last line is so beautiful and continues to resonate with me. Thank you, Doug, for gently asking us to examine our own time on this earth.