Majoonsuo, Eastern Finland
1.
Note the hair’s width (9.6 cm) and the magnification (867x).
You’re a witness at an 8,000 year remove.
2.
Close one eye, stare through the electron microscope.
Hover over the child’s grave with the finest brush.
3.
From the Stone Age, she’s now dust and fibers.
Write in the margins: how old is she?
4.
Catalog each object carefully: willows, nettles, fishing nets.
Hover over the child’s grave with the finest brush.
5.
Separate fragments from the soil with water.
Transport all evidence back to the lab.
6.
Hover over the child’s grave with the finest brush.
Record the hair at her feet. Dog or wolf? Did they die together?
7.
You picture a girl buried with fur-lined shoes.
You speculate at an 8,000 year remove.
8.
Twenty-four feather fragments tickle your fingers.
You dream of waterfowl, the finest brush.
9.
In Finland, the soil’s pH erodes the past.
The child’s remnants are an exception. Hover–
10.
In a forest, the finest brush.
Hush. Hush–
11.
Soft red ocher.
The earth is a face–
12.
At her age, your mother traced the contours
of your eyes, your jaw, your nose.
13.
Paint my face, you’d beg. Even now,
feel her reach for you through the darkness–
_____
*This poem is inspired by CNN’s article “Stone Age child’s grave site in Finland reveals surprises” (November 2, 2022).
