Giles Watson's poetry and prose
Comb
Comb
Now the comb is jagged-toothed
As stalagmites, and the rivets
Leach haloes of rust into the bone.
She held it, whorled and white
And beautiful, and stripped
Her glorious hair of lice, shook
It like a mane, transfixed
A flea between her fingernails,
And flirted. Earth piled in
On it, compacted over centuries.
Fleas and lice died in soil.
Time knocked out the teeth.
Poem by Giles Watson, 2012. Inspired by an Anglo Saxon comb (6th Century, from Wallingford), fashioned out of bone, now on display in the Vale and Downland Museum, Wantage.
Comb
Comb
Now the comb is jagged-toothed
As stalagmites, and the rivets
Leach haloes of rust into the bone.
She held it, whorled and white
And beautiful, and stripped
Her glorious hair of lice, shook
It like a mane, transfixed
A flea between her fingernails,
And flirted. Earth piled in
On it, compacted over centuries.
Fleas and lice died in soil.
Time knocked out the teeth.
Poem by Giles Watson, 2012. Inspired by an Anglo Saxon comb (6th Century, from Wallingford), fashioned out of bone, now on display in the Vale and Downland Museum, Wantage.