Passing Heads

Upon his death, the Fore tribe
of Eastern New Guinea
gathers around a fire and passes
the deceased's skull around
chanting for mercy on his soul.
Ocher flames leap from the timbers
and light up the black sky,
as the bloody skull is finally consumed.
Only gray ash remains, to be buried
among the ashes of the dead
that have gone before him.

Tonight a fire is lit
in the living room of a new divorcee
who sits among a tribe of others
who have gone before her.
Each take turns, passing around
the skulls of their ex-husbands,
chanting curses. They ask for no mercy.
Sparks fly, as one by one,
their memories are hurled into the fire.
Tomorrow, only gray ash will remain,
to be collected in urns of memories
that line the cluttered shelves of their souls.