Anna Couani #87 for Dr Vivienne Kondos

she talked about Aboriginal artefacts

being an anthropologist

understood the shaping of knives

and flakes

travelled other places

I see her now

up on the plateaux

where they grind bones

after the carrion deal with them

I'm considering the idea of the afterlife

and where she might go

if there was one

and the retailers on the streets of Cairo

selling everything

all the same gear

same materials

you find in the National Museum

amongst the mummies

while she lives on in my memory

holding some precious flint

in her long fingers