And her breath
Muddy bog land wet through
but bent to it for days
her long trench a shallow excavation
of centuries of bed deaths
her quick-wristed sieve-shook remains
find recovered fragments of time
and each is labelled packed away
so many partial discoveries of
ancient runes a man or woman
unknown until fully examined:
The whole skeleton the hip width
the relative dimensions
of her brittle find lain out cleaned wiped
for the experts’ opinion
and she will hold her breath but continue to dig
until the sex of the dead is given.
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