Dig
You try it the scientific way:
cut your life into neat squares,
roped and measured for digging,
and record what you find. Here
in section 3B, what is this?
Something broken, something
that long ago made sense
but, as a shard, has no meaning
at all. You search for more,
measure how far one fragment
lies from another, how deep,
and what the soil betrays.
But even when you get lucky,
a perfect fit, you’re reminded
of early hominid skulls
in the natural history museum:
ten percent fossil bone
and ninety percent imagination.
It feels good, the process so
scrupulous, even though you
end up where you were before,
creating a universe out of next
to nothing, like astronomers
scanning a vacant sky for hints
of luminosity, training dark
lenses past earth’s ambient light.
Richard Spilman was born and raised in Normal, Illinois and now lives in Hurricane, WV. He is the author of three books: In the Night Speaking, The Estate Sale, and Hot Fudge, plus a chapbook, “Suspension.”