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  • Death by Water, and: Death by Fire, and: Death by Bullet
  • Karen Craigo (bio)

Death by Water

You imagine the arkfrom the outside, the waymost people saw it—shuttered,huge, already starting to stink.And there you are beside it,treading water, reaching outto touch the unsanded hull,throat raw from pleading.Most of us lead dry liveswith a few moist momentswe live for. Which is whythis death is the onewe were born to. Insidewe're water and bones,and so we bob on the waveslike a bag of sticks. Once,all humanity was a forest, felled.You can put your head underand remember: didn't you surgeinto this world on a wave, crying,your mouth full of salt? [End Page 120]

Death by Fire

At the base of the flamethere's a blue answer.If you look without blinkingyou'll know its pattern.All at once you'll rememberthe skin of the man you love,and how it once glowedgold against the sheets.

When Joseph's brothersproclaimed him dead,they brought their father proof:a gaudy coat in shreds.Jacob, unraveled, each day chosea different thread to grieve to.Near the end his tormentblazed red.

There's somethingthat stays behind us when we go,if only for an hour. Tell me howto bloom like that. ShouldI touch a candle to my skirt?Or will there be a doorof flame to run through? [End Page 121]

Death by Bullet

Alive, we can only conceiveof the searing. But there's a kindof genius the doomed know—an ideaplanted deep and guarded.It blooms there, sudden metal flower.I heard of one who survived:the bullet glanced a molar, ricocheted,left a mousehole in his cheek.Imagine the man's astonishmentas he stood there deadand breathing. For too longwe've believed death is a hostwho has to take us in, a guidewho won't forsake us in the woods.There's the story of Sarai, too oldfor foolishness, laughingof God's pronouncement.When Abraham's seedtook sudden root inside her,it must have felt this way—hot revelation, sudden lightthat changes you forever. [End Page 122]

Karen Craigo

Karen Craigo, editor in chief of Mid-American Review, is the author of Stone for an Eye, published by Kent State University Press. Her work has appeared in numerous journals, including Poetry, Another Chicago Magazine, Indiana Review, and others.

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