2020 Poetry

WEN: 3329E6

Exhibitor Name: Evie Groch

Division: Poetry (Adults)

Class: 01 Poetry

Journey of Souls Our boat mutely moves toward ritual funereal pyres along the shores of the Ganges where cremations flame with brightness. They celebrate in Varanasi like nowhere else: chanting, drumbeats, wails, prayers at the water’s edge. White-robed priests under lit arches sway in unison to mystical rhythms. Shoreline alive with color and form. Ambience hyper normal, slightly magical. Low billows of gray smoke puff out from newly extinguished burns next to raging hot bonfires. Corpses lined up for their final sendoff, first by fire, then by water as they slide into the Ganges. Profiles of bereaved families in shadows glow softly in their candlelight as ceremonies fade into memories.

We hold a candlelit flower petal, each of us setting one to sail. Soon they are specks of light, stars in a dark aspic of salinity.

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