Dust
How did they think of their apocalypse
these unearthed bundles: men, women, children;
so dry, not a drop of moisture in them
to dilute their tattooed skin’s script.
First cloak, then muscle ropes, the wind unwrapped
any burial it exposed, spreading their tissue
out over the plateau, like fire-blown ashes
drifting across the roads their gods walked.
I – his final other – take much more care,
clean him slowly in a blue light, to reveal the line
of his face – mountains profiled under moonrise
in this museum room sealed to the air;
and as I photograph his thin right arm
I note fingernail marks similar to my own scars.
Page(s) 25
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