Clare Kirwan is based near Liverpool and performs regularly as part of Dead Good Poets Society. Her poems have been published in Orbis, MsLexia, Iota, Aberrant Dreams, amongst others. She also writes short fiction. www.clarekirwan.co.uk

Clare Kirwan

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Excavation

This is ancient history,
it requires a delicate touch
to brush away the layers.

See this fruit bowl,
faded but intact, the oven
and the bones of chairs

all perfectly preserved –
this lost civilization,
undisturbed for years.

Here's a pitted knife,
a dish of pears, still fresh,
inside the fridgidaire,

your parents
still barely speaking.