POST MORTEM
February 3, 1959
You might not see the bodies in the famous photo
of the Cessna wadded against a farm fence,
first responders standing, arms down,
in the fresh snow. But in another,
the flattened white figure ten feet away
was Buddy Holley, Richie Valens’ remains
sprawled a few yards east. The Bopper’s
barely visible, jettisoned some 40 feet
beyond the fence. You wouldn’t want to see
any closer. The coroner’s report mentions
“spongy” chests, missing brain matter,
the plane having hit the ground at around
170 miles an hour and rolling 500 feet
or so into a ball, flinging out bodies,
before it hit the fence, pilot inside.
A Caddy ambulance, idling, stares ahead.
I was a high school senior then. I don’t
know why I’m telling you all this.
