Ammonium Chloride, burned, breaks apart
then re-combines to a particulate cloud
revered in pyrotechnics. Its effect on skin
is corrosive.

The Ouagadougou convent opens for outsiders
once a week, with dinner and hymns at a good price.
The courtyard checkers with candlelit card-tables,
nuns weaving like shadows with platters of chicken.
Rasmané sings softly with Ave Maria, drags
on a cigarette, closes his eyes. When innocent, he was made
to pray to atone for the sin of his shade. There is flesh
on the chicken, and the melodies haunt.

NaPoWriMo 2005, April 19