flood archeology
flood archeology
Original Text
Julia Williams, The Sink House (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2004): 103. PS8645 .I445 S56 2004 Robarts Library
1in ten thousand years a shoe
2will emerge from bog mud
3cracked, seamy leather
4unlaced and tiny
5this used to be bogland
6far as the eye goes
7what passes for history passes
8tense never changes
9a shoe still means teapot
10pan, whisk
11hat means belts and soupbowls
12what grew here, what grows
13never could mould a shoe
14never could dig it
15this was bogland
16a house, a garden
17why this shoe is tiny, only
18this shoe caught off guard
19ten thousand years in the drying
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire / Sharine Leung
RPO Edition
2011
Rhyme
Form
Special Copyright
Copyright © Julia Williams and used by permission of the poet. Authorization to republish this poem must be obtained from her in writing.