last night I journeyed into
the land of the dead and happened
upon an old friend. we first went
to get a coffee, the cups just like
those at the cafe back home
and then, because
my friend is a history buff, she
guided me deeper, past the
zone like the current era
then through narrow Victorian lanes and
past steep-roofed Japanese estates and
austere white columns, to a place
where a long-dead woman milked
long-dead cows to make cheese
that no living person has eaten in
thousands of years. Never before had
I tasted such deliciousness. I had to
confess to my friend that there
were some unexpected perks to joining
the ranks of the dead.