REBECCA And I held it under my left arm

ECHO my left arm

Pause.

REBECCA And I went through with my baby

ECHO my baby

Pause.

REBECCA But the baby cried out

ECHO cried out

REBECCA And the man called me back

ECHO called me back

REBECCA And he said, What do you have there

ECHO have there

REBECCA He stretched out his hand for the bundle

ECHO for the bundle

REBECCA And I gave him the bundle

ECHO the bundle

REBECCA And that’s the last time I held the bundle

ECHO the bundle

Silence.

REBECCA And we got on the train

ECHO the train

REBECCA And we arrived at this place

ECHO this place

REBECCA And I met a woman I knew

ECHO I knew

REBECCA And she said, What happened to your baby

ECHO your baby

REBECCA Where is your baby

ECHO your baby

REBECCA And I said what baby

ECHO what baby

REBECCA I don’t have a baby

ECHO a baby

REBECCA I don’t know of any baby

ECHO of any baby

Pause.

REBECCA I don’t know of any baby

Long silence.

Blackout.

Weather Forecast

WEATHER FORECAST

The day will get off to a cloudy start.

It will be quite chilly

But as the day progresses

The sun will come out

And the afternoon will be dry and warm.

In the evening the moon will shine

And be quite bright.

There will be, it has to be said,

A brisk wind

But it will die out by midnight.

Nothing further will happen.

This is the last forecast.

March 2003

After Lunch

AFTER LUNCH

And after noon the well-dressed creatures come

To sniff among the dead

And have their lunch

And all the many well-dressed creatures pluck

The swollen avocados from the dust

And stir the minestrone with stray bones

And after lunch

They loll and lounge about

Decanting claret in convenient skulls

September 2002

Meeting

MEETING

It is the dead of night

The long dead look out towards

The new dead

Walking towards them

There is a soft heartbeat

As the dead embrace

Those who are long dead

And those of the new dead

Walking towards them

They cry and they kiss

As they meet again

For the first and last time

August 2002

Death

DEATH

Where was the dead body found?

Who found the dead body?

Was the dead body dead when found?

How was the dead body found?

Who was the dead body?

Who was the father or daughter or brother

Or uncle or sister or mother or son

Of the dead and abandoned body?

Was the body dead when abandoned?

Was the body abandoned?

By whom had it been abandoned?

Was the dead body naked or dressed for a journey?

What made you declare the dead body dead?

Did you declare the dead body dead?

How well did you know the dead body?

How did you know the dead body was dead?

Did you wash the dead body