The thing that a body does is produce an image of you. This is done by a concert of processes that synthesize the matter surrounding you. The stuff of air, water, a boiled leaf, and so on enter you, become you, leave you. The image is made by a stream of matter. Death is the end of this image, and it decomposes much like the bed of a river that's run dry.

This Monday (January 9), a corpse was found in a lily pond in Volunteer Park. The image it once made was then unknown. Yesterday, it was identified as Amy Vanderbeck. Her image made an impression in these parts. It had, as it were, a history here. According to Capitol Hill Seattle Blog, Vanderbeck was a "longtime part of Capitol Hill and the Seattle coffee scene." She "was a popular Vivace barista and opened Watertown cafe on 12th Ave." This is, of course, a very small part of the image that streamed for 49 years through the body that was found in the pond.

No one will hear a living word from Vanderbeck again. But she will appear in dreams. The body not only produces an image but is also the graveyard of images that are no more. Like a reflection on a window, she will appear in the slumber of many images.