grandmother has a birthday
with the afterdead. ilan
ramon is joining her.
i am awakened by the news
one saturday morning.
the afterdead explode & die all over
again as a spaceship glows into pieces.
shoah grandmother leaves door ajar --
it is february 1st.

petr ginz is a boy preserved
in the shoah museum.
he struggles with his pencil.
he views an earth that can
hurt no more from
afar, from a lunar landscape.

ilan ramon reaches back &
resurrects the shoah boy
to bring him & his drawing
along to outer space. their arms
stretch out across sky & stars.
everyone who has ever died
explodes again in unison.

petr & ilan & grandmother
celebrate the sweetness
of the afterdead. it can be

no other way