Digging
Bring down the albums one by one from the shelf,
leaf through page after page of photographs.
Click onto further images held on computer.
Faces, places preserved.
Movement and voices, too, on video.
Moments in time recorded for future reference.
Fragments of the past to be picked up,
sifted and pieced together
like potsherds from an archaeological dig.
Access, a way back.
Insights, cross-references.
Looking for clues.
How did it all come about?
I like the way you’ve tackled the challenge, delving into photographs. Not sure you need ‘further’ in line 3. I very much like the fragments and potsherds. As you might expect, I think the poem ends on ‘Looking for clues’.
Yes, perhaps “further” could get the snip! But I must defend the last line on this occasion, as I wanted to hint that there may be a present problem on which the poet is hoping the old photos etc. can shed some light.
Maybe you don’t need both lines? The penultimate and final lines say pretty much the same thing. Oh, and I did wonder about the title, good though it is. It’s generally OK for poems to share the same title but Heaney’s ‘Digging’ has really ruined it for everyone else!
I had a problem with “digging” and then “leaf through” as I was making connections that weren’t there. Unless you wanted to call it something like “family tree”. This is a lot more clipped than you usually do. Groan! No pun intended. But it certainly has a rhythm and is less like prose. Are you happy with the result?
Digging for Victory?