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The Multiplying Grave

by Janet Buck

The trail's arch just weeks ago
began in such firm dignity.
A proud goodbye from launching slabs
as metal, flesh, and spirits rose
toward stars we love but do not own.
Divided ruins litter
the breadth of several states,
these molecules of miracles
coming back to haunt the dream.
Bits of steel and dust from bones.
We mourn the multiplying grave.
Paint in palettes of the spring --
packed in blood, dripping
down the reaching arm.
The cloud of hope is spitting nails.
A flood of death each way we turn --
religion's lungs still pump away
and chins are resting on the lip
of waves we can't reverse or stop.

Were there ever really hours
when skies were clear slate blue?
When daffodils were trumpets
never missing notes?
Once again, this art of coughing
up the grief, the carry on
of flags at firm half-mast
is all we have for tattered clothes.
They whisk away the families
to give the scalded, torrid cheek
a chance to dry
knowing that it never will
in missions this impossible.
We moisten brushes with more tears
as CNN declares the Armageddon gloom
like stories told so many times
the words are almost memorized.

bio

Janet Buck is a six-time Pushcart Nominee and the author of four collections of poetry. In 2003, her work is scheduled to appear in The Montserrat Review, PoetryBay, Southern Ocean Review, Artemis, Zuzu's Petals Quarterly, and dozens of journals world-wide. Buck is a frequent contributor to Identity Theory.

Featured author in January 2001

connections

"Gray Blankets"
"Christmas in a Subway Car"
"The Holding Tank"
"Acrobats in Ash"
"The Tennessee Twister"
"The FBI Chaplain Stops By"
"The Shack"
"The Waiting Room"
"Megiddo Junction"
"Curbs to Climb"
"Terror's Bruise"
"The Tragic Anniversary"
"The Zeinhom Morgue"
"The Theory of Green"
"Cruel Candles in the Dark"
"The Lost & Found"
"Frozen Sonnets"
"New York, New York"
"Live on CNN"
"America Under Siege"
"Gutter Balls"
"The Paralyzed Apocalypse"
"Rushing Toward Entelechy"
"The Bag Lady"
"Caught in Lesser Tragedies"
"The Broken Promise"
"The Gargoyle"
"The Going"
"The Orphan"

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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