What is the main conflict in Ode to a Drum by Yusef Komunyakaa?

Included in the first section of Yusef Komunyakaa's 1998 collection Thieves of Paradise, "Ode to a Drum" describes an African drum maker talking to the gazelle he has killed, while nailing the gazelle's hide to wood, and the music that results from the drum he creates. The poem was also included in the album Love Notes from the Mad House, Komunyakaa's musical collaboration with saxophonist John Tchicai.