X-rays
An eerie hoard
scattered and layered,
resembling torn paper
floating in earth:
untarnished gold
sunk in sod
packed into time
imbedded like pain
What makes a treasure?
Fluttering in the dark
contours of earth,
shapes overlap on
the film’s black field
The soil sectioned
and sliced to preserve
not riches
but position:
each secret
of gold and garnet
constellated
to the others
Their stance a story
Boadicea's Chariot 
For Ferret’s competition. Another poem inspired by the Staffordshire hoard.
Oh, Jaime, you are about 46 minutes past the deadline, but I hope The Furry One will excuse this.
I love the poem; not a word out of place, and the illustration is very dramatic.
Mmm. I like it, Jaime; rich and evocative.
Apologies if I’ve said this before, but I find your stuff very sensual and finely wrought in a way that reminds me a bit of Yeats’s Byzantium poems.
Uh oh. Oh well. Doesn’t really matter, I suppose. I was afraid of that. I don’t think my international clock is factoring in something: daylight savings time? That can’t be, can it?
Thanks, Araminta, aren’t those xray photos amazing? I’m in love with them!
Intriguing poem, Jaime
Jaime, ah yes, we are on GMT+1 at the moment.
Wow, Claire, now that’s a compliment. I’m a Yeats fan, though haven’t read him for some years. At the expense of sounding like all we do is pat each other on the back (others disapprove, you may have noticed!), I was very taken by the dark politics of your poem.
Thanks, Pseu, that must explain it. I guess. These spring ahead fall behind things escape me. Oh well, it will save Ferret some reading time!
Oh hell, I forgot the word secret. Maybe I’ll add it.
I bet you can too, Jaime!
And I also bet that you can do it without spoiling the original. 🙂
I’ve often thought that about your stuff. All that sensual gold imagery, but pruned and very disciplined as well. I always found Yeats incredibly sensual, but there is something disturbing in him as well. The hardness and the rigour of the aesthete, perhaps.
Julie T once said on MyT that I was a bit obsessed by depressive/dark stuff. I’m reading a lot of dark poetry from me big black book -Plath, de Vigny, Dickinson. I love gory old poems…
Whoa, Claire, dark lands indeed. Hope it doesn’t daunt your otherwise sunny personality.
There you go, Ara, not as seamless as I’d like it, but I’ll try tidying it at a later date. I already feel last minute and seat-of-the-pants-ish.
You are a class act, Jaime. Does ‘secret’ need to be stated in the poem? The whole poem screams secrets unearthed (to me, anyway). Perhaps it will be enough for Ferret. I hope so. 🙂
Well, very cathartic sometimes, the dark pomes, but perhaps I do need something a bit cheerier/lighter!
Your poetry centres on the beauty of shifting perceptions and sensations in the present, as opposed to ruminating about past or future.
Oh! You’ve changed it!
Sorry, playing catch-up. 🙂
Yes, Bilby, do you prefer it the other way? I agree that the poem says secret without saying it. I could go either way. What do you think?
For the purposes of the comp, Jaime it’s well nigh seamless, but I prefer the original. You are right, it is implied.
I think the secret is implied throughout the whole poem, especially in the line ‘What makes a treasure?’ I would be tempted to leave it as it is…
OK, I’ll put it back. It’s too late for the comp anyway.
You just added another line? I think it works very well. Just to be on the safe site, and in consideration of small furry regulations (plus the late entry), perhaps it’s best to leave it in. 😉
… or even ‘safe side’
Ferrets are quite flexible …
That was addressed to your 11.42, Jaime.
OK, in deference to you and Ferret, I’ll put it back in. Decisive, aren’t I?
Jaime,
Panic not, this is far too good to quibble over a few minutes. Bilby is right Ferrets are extremely flexible.
I didn’t see the original, but the whole pome screams secret at me anyhoo. Consider this a valid entry.
Now excuse me while I carry on with the task of picking a winner. It’s not easy, not easy at all. 🙂