A FRIDAY EVENING OCCASION AND TIME SLOTS COME CHEAP. THE OVENS, FUELED BY A FULL WEEK'S HEAT, BURN RELENTLESS AND WHITE LIKE NEW BORN SUN.THE COFFIN: A CARDBOARD DIGITAL WOOD PRINTED SIMULACRA, LITTLE MORE THAN AN OVERSIZED TAKE AWAY FOOD BOX FANTASY. PUTTING THAT IN THERE IS LIKE SETTING FIRE TO A NAPKIN. BURNS FASTER THAN THE TIME IT TAKES TO LIGHT IT UP.
WHEN THE HATCH OPENS AND THE SYSTEM'S AUTOMATED ARM SLIDES HIM IN OVER THE RAIL, HE CATCHES FLAMiE ALOMST IMMEDIATELY AND SHORTLY AFTER IS INDEFINITLY INCINERATED. YOU CAN'T SEE THE BODY, BUT YOU THINK YOU DO. IT'S THERE, IT SHOULD BE THERE. YOU BELIEVE IT,
YOU WANT TO.
HE'S GONE SO QUICKLY, SHE SAYS, HER VOICE SATURATED WITH ANGER AND GRIEF, I THOUGHT WE HAD MORE TIME, I NEED MORE TIME...
SHE STOPS, COMPOSES HERSELF, SOBBING HER WAY THROUGH.
I CAN'T HELP BUT LOOK AT HER, BOTH OUR FACES GLOWING IN THE PALE FLICKER COMMING OFF OF THE FURNACE.
A THOUSAND DEGREES OF MOVING PARTICLES ENERGY HITTING US SIMULTANEOUSLY AND I SWEAR I CAN SMELL HER TEARS VAPORIZE IN THE HEATED AIR. WITH HEROIN EFFORT SHE REPRESSES THOSE TEARS AND I THE IMPULS TO TRY AND SAVE HER FROM DEATH'S COLD COMMING GRIP. LIKE ORPHEUS I WOULD FAIL. TIME ONLY MOVES IN ONE DIRECTION, DEPSITE OUR ROMANTIC BELIEFS TO THE CONTRARY. NO, THE ONLY COMFORT I CAN OFFER HER MUST BE IN THE IMPLICIT AFFIRMATION OF THE IRREVERSIBLE.
I EMULATE SOME SYMPATHY AROUND THE CORNERS OF THE MOUTH BUT NOT THE EYES NEVER THE EYES, OR SO I IMAGINE. HOW MUCH TIME DOES A FAREWELL TAKE? WHAT DOES IT MATTER.
I KNOW, SHE SAYS WAVING HER ARMS IN GESTURES OF SURRENDER, I KNOW.
IN SILENT RETREAT SHE WALKS TOWARDS THE EXIT. SOMETIMES SURRENDER IS ALL WE’VE GOT.
BARELY NOTICEABLE I BOW AND THINK ABOUT PLACES IN THIS WORLD AND POTTENTIAL OTHERS, WHERE SURVIVERS STAY BESIDE THE BURNING BODIES OF LOVED ONES FOR AS LONG AS NECESSARY, UNTILL NOTHING BUT A FEW PIECES OF SKULL AND SKELETON ARE WHAT'S LEFT ON THE SMOLDERING PYRE.
PERHAPS THIS IS THE TIME WE NEED, THE TIME IT TAKES.
/// TEXT AND PHOTGRAPHS SUMMER 025 ///
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