our bodies are so strong
even as we chafe and bruise
and ache and stiffen
we are still able to continue on
step by buffalo step

i know there is some sort of scientific reason
we can go and go and go —
if it’s adrenaline and/or cortisol
some bodily/muscular word that explains
how we’ve been built, over generations,
to be marathon animals
rather than sprinters

but i think there is also a spiritual reason
that artists can continue and continue and continue
as we sweat out buckets and get exhausted
and our buffalo seems to get heavier and heavier —
it’s the connection between us within the puppet
the connection between all of us in the herd
the connection between our animals and the humans surrounding
all of us hoping for the coming of a kinder, gentler, more buffalo future

these masses of wood and paper and burlap and erosion cloth
become alive the moment we connect
and we see and respect that life, that spirit
and walk with them

we are walking with them

will you walk with us?