This story won an 'honorable mention' award at the 2000
second annual Current magazine poetry/fiction awards.

It was published in the June 2000 issue of 'Current' magazine.

Temple   by B.S. Blair
------
As you walk farther into the forest
The sound of the forest diminishes
Do the animals know?
The bones of 27,500 women
Were found in the pyramid
Young when they died
They stood on the edge at the top
Naked
Annointed, with green fronds
twisted in their hair
flowers, a flower
An honor to have been chosen

Drumming intensified
Until the priest cut off her head
With a scythe
If he got it just right
The head would fall into the void
Simultaneously with the body
Having been given a slight push
With the bottom of his foot

Silence
As the dismembered corpse
flies in dark space
To come roughly to rest
forever
upon the dust of the rest
how long does consciousness last
and can the ebb of life
really be harnessed and focused
like a light beam
for some right purpose?

The priest pours purifying herbs
into the void
From a pounded silver bowl
So that the skin would remain
While the rest rotted
And the cruel need of a god
Would not offend the noses
Of the benefactors
Of the sacrifice
Of a bloom