SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION
Artist
The Alternative Press
Datec. 1992
MediumLetterpress on cardstock
DimensionsImage Size (folded): 9 × 6 in. (22.9 × 15.2 cm)
Image Size (unfolded): 9 × 12 in. (22.9 × 30.5 cm)
ClassificationsPrint
Credit LineGift of Gary Eleinko, 2023
Object numberUAC7450.11
DescriptionLetterpress printed poem by Donna Brroks, titled "SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION".SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION
for Larry
I think of this not
as a metaphor or image
but incident phenomenon where persons
burn to a crisp for no apparent reason
at temperatures of about 3,000 degrees
Farenheit leaving
a pile of ashes
oily residue and
occasionally
an unburnt limb
nothing
around the victim is damaged
except perhaps the exact spot
where the deceased ignited
but, as I said, it's not a symbol
it's an occurence
such as you probably remember
from Chapter 32 of Bleak House
Dickens found thirty more cases on record
and today there are more than
200 reported cases of spontaneous
human combustion, which can
happen to anybody at any time
Twenty-two-year-old Marilee Mars
was laughing and joking in the shower
after gym class when smoke
started pouring out of her ears and
mouth and then she caught fire
as cold water poured down on her
she burned intensely for about 10 minutes
but not from lust
deep-seated psychological problems
conflicts
alcoholism
deposits of flammable body fat
phosphorus
or sin
these were or have been proposed
as explanations
when:
Father Luis Ponce exploded while preforming an exorcism
in Barcelona; Christian Ruys and his fiance, Patrice, burst into
flames in a shopping mall in Brussels; Paul Lemers erupted while
waiting in croweded line to buy theater tickets in Vienna; Dr.
J. Irving Bentley of Couldersport, PA, was discovered by a meter
reader on December 5, 1966. Dr. Bentley apparently ignited while
he was in the bathroom and burned a two and a half by three foot
hole through the flooring, with only a portion of one leg
remaining intact. Nearby paint was unscorched.
I know you are wondering what
I am getting at you
are the kind of person who thinks
that because this is a poem
there is some meaning
if you must have a meaning
this is what I mean
children at summer camp
like to lie on their backs
gazing at the stars they are enthralled
by the ancient Egyptian process
of mummification where the brain
was removed through the nostrils
for the big chunks
the ancient Egyptians
crushed the back of the skull
and used a spoon
Published by The Alternative Press, Issue Number Eighteen.
