<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">All Souls</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><i class="">Cougnac Cave, France</i></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Many corners turned beneath</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">pencil-thin stalactites, thousands</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">like upside down candles,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">wet flames dripping.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Beyond my mind's</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">violence, there,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">an ibex painted</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">in stalactite-milk</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">with wall-ooze for</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">a shaggy coat. Will it always</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">be buried? Memory</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">stumbling into mineral stillness.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">crystallized, almost lucid, or carried -</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">a forgotten animal across</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">my shoulders, radiant</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and awash in lactation, made</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">with hand, mouth, spit.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i class="">Dear friend, I remember</i></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i class="">being painted </i></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i class="">in coal and blood,</i></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i class="">and the long gallery</i></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i class="">where all souls parade.</i></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><i class=""></i><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></i>- Ann Marie Macari</div></div></body></html>