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Palimpsest

Nancy Jo Allen

After the divorce,
a woman asked
if I enjoyed rewriting my life.
I answered,
I am unearthing it.
You see

Indiana Jones taught students
that archeology
is mainly research
and an open mind. Know history,
and geography
before shoveling the excavation site.
Trench the location
and mark it with yellow tape
that lets the locals
know not to cross the line
as important work
is in the troweling
beyond. It is often sacred ground,
and ought to be treated with respect
as hands fill buckets and trugs
using hand picks,
or spatulas with educated patience
before covering the site
with protective tarpaulins
at days end. The work itself
is dangerous, and the deeper the dig,
the more need for helmet
and safety glasses,
for one encounters archeological
surprises along the way.
First aid kits
are a must, for even gloves
often cannot protect the digger
from shards of broken pottery
that once held the liquids
that sustained and entertained populations.
After picks have cleared an area
down to its depths where foundations
emerge, sieves and brushes
set to work with delicate strokes
discovering how a civilization
once lived in a populated area.
Most sites show levels of sophistication
from the arts, to the value of education,
to military defense, beyond the civil
engineering of the village. Bones
reveal the people’s physical adaptations
to the environment, or what they
ate, what ate them, or even who they ate.

What is revealed in such tedious work
is the buried truth that lays to rest
the facts like forensics in a murder case.

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