Body of Evidence (For the Missing)

A news response poem

Photo: Suzanna de Baca

Here on the ground, we need 
the bodies. We crave proof 
of life: a casket, an urn, a pyre,
a grave, a place of rest. We collect 
shells, cling to the container, visit 
markers. We are desperate 
to hold evidence of existence 
in our bare hands. 

But you are missing, absorbed 
into air, disappeared, dissipated 
into sky, a memory untethered.
You are reflected momentarily
in a ray of light, a shape spotted 
in a cloud, floating in the scent 
of ash and smoke and dust. 
You are everywhere, but nowhere.
There is no clear place to lay down 
flowers, no clear place to mourn. 

Here on the ground, we ache 
to see something, to touch 
something, anything: a bone, 
a boot, a shard, a rock, a fragment 
of you. In our grief, we need proof 
of death: something real, tangible,
visible. We need a body of evidence, 
a door we can open and close 
in order to let you go.

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NOTE: This week, the New York Times reported that a month after the Lahaina fire, over 360 people are still missing. As we near the anniversary of 9/11, I will never forget that day living in Manhattan and the aftermath — walking by the endless rows of posters pasted along streets, on fences and on the walls of Grand Central, each with a photo and name of the person missing, each pleading for information. This poem emerged as a response to these tragedies as well as many others where loved ones were never found.

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I’m proud to be a member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please consider reading and supporting our members:

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, Roundup

Steph Copley: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley

Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji

Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

Rob Gray: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny

Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla

Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines

Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo

Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Letters from Iowans, Iowa

Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa

Alison McGaughey, The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities

Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar

Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines

Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids

Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines

Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines

John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines

Macey Spensley: The Midwest Creative, Iowa

Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona

Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport

Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines

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