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OPEN CEMETERIES A disregarded
skeleton rises out of sand and a town is built around it. Bits of
hair and cotton, sea lion skin, human bone and pottery shards, my
friends, poetry strewn in desert. Bleached skulls with gaping
mouths and dreadlocks long as netting.
Corpses staring up from cube openings in the hard sand. Rough skin skulls gathering sun in rigor mortal prayer. Wind at ground level, twenty minutes of rain, lines drawn here stay drawn. They elongated my skull at birth, to let others know of my high status. They drilled a hole in my head to let my bad deeds out, with corn alcohol, my only anesthetic. Down here, we mimic metal continents where Conquistadors massacre medieval times ahead, abroad and simultaneous. Cementario de Chauchilla, Nazca, Peru 10/97 |
 Pre-Inca Open Cemetery, Nazca, Peru
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 Pre-Inca Open Cemetery, Nazca, Peru |
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 Monastery in Arequipa, Peru
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DAY OF THE DEAD "When the moon separated from the Earth, it forgot to take Arequipa." we parade through a city block of Monastery and fall into eclipse of death. on this day, the dead return to the community, and so the community to the dead. bodies stacked behind walls of white concrete and paper flowers, we walk on. it's the end of the dry season, the end of resting. this we know from the flickering of candles which announce the arrival. we are unseen tourists as small children run around peddling ladders and water to see and soak the graves. there are booths selling life insurance on the cemetery grounds, blood-pressure check-ups, funeral arrangements and Inca Kola. this coast offers no feast, solo fiesta. i followed a funeral parade. the dead moving above ground snatching away at blood and fat and crop. in this dusty town, death has an audience of me. an audience of community. Arequipa, Peru 10/2/97 |
 Inca Ruins at Pisaq, Peru
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