Poem of the week : Archeology of The Heart

Archeology of the heart

I’m excavating again – guilt heaped,
raking in less obvious, foolish spaces
I daren’t search for fear.

I should be used to losing

Shame sears fissures, all those slack
left-behinds – surname, jobs, lovers.
Those dreams untethered, that cat.

Tight-wired, taut lipped, I scour
for that little ring long slipped off
Mum’s finger, gold trusted to me.

Now it’s asked for by my daughter,
to be melted with my thin band, to fuse
& flame a brighter future for us all.

I should be used to losing.

Finola Scott writes in both Scots and English. Her poetry is widely published and her debut pamphlet, Much Left Unsaid, was published by Red Squirrel Press in 2019.