SK1

10 May 1995

KINSHASA, Zaire (AP) -- Soldiers blocked routes into a city of 600,000 that was placed under quarantine Tuesday after more than 100 people died of a mysterious disease

doctors thought the victims could all be traced back to a 36-year-old lab technician named Kimfumu, who died at Kikwit's main hospital last month

the disease has not yet spread--as far as anyone can tell--to the 4 million people of Kinshasa, 250 miles to the west

The Asp's Tail

Who can bear that light?
scything low through stirring trees
over the lips of starworn chalices
nothing moves so coy and tremendous
from the dooms of night
out from the phosphorescent
belly of moon
the dawn
a burning ship
licks the watertips, the road
all the dreamlocked doorways
Leave this place
the splintered pier
fevered mouths and
look! the water is a golden asp
how it beckons
beckons the river