John Solt
for Khun Na
THE FUNERAL
the price for this poem
was too high
someone had to die
-------------------------
bittersweet
the new baby
is passed around
at his aunt's funeral
-------------------------
she drowned at thirty three
in a lifetime of sorrow
and three inches of water
-------------------------
go ahead and jump
you ain't got a clue
evangelical!
-------------------------
the chickens here
walk around
as if they never
heard of "bird flu"
-------------------------
bunless burgers
meatless burgers
hold the mustard
hold the mayo
just give me an empty one
-------------------------
the first night
just an old blanket
on the corpse
the second night
a coffin with lights
and flowers
the same sadness
disbelief
that she's dead
-------------------------
the police in costume
played themselves
when they broke up
the carnival
-------------------------
his hairlip
worshipped symmetry
and synchronicity
-------------------------
hours before the chanting
a string was strung
from the sutra to the deceased
-------------------------
who said
"here today
gone tomorrow"
and where are
they now?
should've been
clearer
"here yesterday
gone today"
-------------------------
moths swarm furiously
at the funeral lights
invigorating death
with flickering
-------------------------
one of the five monks
left his cushion and sat
with the mourning family
-------------------------
aging is
sighing
-------------------------
the sutra reading
gave dignity
to her mysterious
death
-------------------------
a three year old boy
runs up to the coffin
"auntie, wake up
wake up!"
he asks
"why is she sleeping so long?
why is she
in a box?"
-------------------------
he talked about
stopping genocide
with a casino tone of voice
-------------------------
the old people
mentioned
her saintliness
because she passed
quickly
unchanged smooth skin
and not a drop
of blood
-------------------------
THE CREMATION
the three girls
got new clothes
for their mother's
cremation
-------------------------
it's saddest
for the young ones
who don't
yet realize
how sad
it is
-------------------------
the monks
arrive for the cremation
in a wire netted truck
usually for chickens
or deporting aliens
-------------------------
the music is guilty
of welling up
an infinite sadness
-------------------------
for some the cremation
is an occasion
to show gold jewelry
against black clothing
-------------------------
his manliness
made him weep
like a woman
-------------------------
everyone wants a cremation like hers
but who is willing to die for it?
-------------------------
firecrackers explode
while the coffin
is carried from house
to temple
-------------------------
the saint says
"go ahead
and burn me"
-------------------------
the oldest monk
can afford to show up late
makes up for it
downing a soft drink
with gusto
-------------------------
during the sutra chanting
the hiss of betal nut spit
-------------------------
the cremation
is a horizontal wire
test of emotions
-------------------------
some partake
from a distance
not wanting
contamination
closer to the coffin
the pure weep
uncontrollably
-------------------------
the monks with the shortest time to live
hold the string to the coffin taut
while the younger monks
let it slacken in their palms
-------------------------
hushed silence
and the crackle
of flames
the fearful
hold onto each other
not to get pulled along
and out
-------------------------
the mother's tears
pour out
crystal anguish
-------------------------
summer heat
coming off
a burning corpse
-------------------------
while she is burning
they throw on
the trinkets
she cherished
-------------------------
peeling away
each layer
to the bone
then marrow