The Zeinhom Morgue

by Janet I. Buck

Cairo to Luxor.
Islam's biggest feasting hour.
Going home for Eid al-Adha —
the ritual where God gave Abraham
a ram to save his son from sacrifice.
The train was overbooked, they say:
"chaotic, crowded, comfortless."
People slept in luggage racks.
No heat, no room, no dining car —
no windows, just the whipping wind
to spread the red-tongued flame.
Pushing, pushing metal walls
that wouldn't move.

Three cars of mute accordions
with soot for pleats.
On AOL, the color photo
only has six shades of gray.
Those who touched, who didn't perish
speak of fingers clawing through smoke.
At the Zeinhom morgue,
a young man searches for his kin.
Reports the bodies charred
beyond an eye's appraisal:
headless, limbless general ash.

There were no lists of passengers,
pharaohs trapped in consequence.
The irony of livestock
wandering the carriage box
just to enter into death.
My pen remembers other flames,
thinks of time as fuchsia buds,
tremulous, frail, quick to fry.
It seems this year the Fates are
pouring grief our way
like milk on morning cereal.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal,
propitious Saudi billionaire, donates
cash to widows, orphans of the fire.
A pittance for the loss of love.
Coins rattle for the grab
inside the terra cotta skull.

Janet Buck's poetry, poetics, and fiction have appeared in The Pedestal Magazine, Poetry Magazine.com, CrossConnect, The Pittsburgh Quarterly, Kimera, The Rose & Thorn, 2River View, Southern Ocean Review, Disquieting Muses, Urban Spaghetti, Perihelion, Mind Fire, Born Magazine, pif, 3rd Muse, Verse Libre Quarterly, Big Bridge, pith and hundreds of journals world-wide. Buck was one of U.S. poets to be featured at the "One Heart, One World" Exhibit at the United Nations Exhibit Hall in New York City in April, 2000. In January 2001, Art Villa Records released Janet's first audio CD of poetry and music called Before the Rose. It is available at: http://www.artvilla.com/shopping/poetry/rose.htm To hear a sample from the CD, go to: http://www.artvilla.com/mp3/umbrellas.mp3.
Note: Featured author in January 2001
E-mail: JBuck22874@aol.com
Writing interests: Poetry
Poems: "The Orphan", "Caught in Lesser Tragedies", "The Broken Promise", "The Gargoyle", "The Going", "The Bag Lady", "Rushing Toward Entelechy", "The Paralyzed Apocalypse", "Frozen Sonnets", "New York, New York", "Live on CNN", "America Under Siege", "Gutter Balls"
Links: Hot Links: Janet I. Buck, Janet's Latest Interview, Desideratum's Doggie Dish, Author's Den, Active Amp.org—Features Janet I. Buck, Poetry Magazine.Com-October-Janet Buck, The Part-time Postmodernist (August 2000), San Francisco Salvo, Moongate: Janet I. Buck, Offcourse, The October Country , Cafe Society: Poetry Life & Times, Kookamonga Square, The Adirondack Review , janetbuck.com, Funky Dog Publishing—Janet Buck's Strawberry Nipples, Athens Avenue—Janet I. Buck, One World-One Heart Exhibit , Ygdrasil: Issue 9 September 2000