To Come Back For the Dead, You Need

truck.   gasoline.   shovel.

above-the-knee.   rubber.   boots.

body.   bags.   bodies.

 

muscle.   mask.   sweat.   pay.

soap.   sleep.   cellphone.   wind.

hole.   flashlight.   fingertips.

 

identity cards.  missing eyes.

babies.   maggots.   almost-mothers.

breathe.   control the dosage.

 

heart-coffin.   heart-nail.   lung-

water.   metaphor : battery.

touch.   this is the only way

 

through the hours.

deranged.   decomposed.   dis-

believing daylight

 

for the body collectors in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, Tacloban, Philippines.