Beth Camp Historical Fiction

Thursday, October 10, 2019

OctPoWriMo #10: Museum Visit

At first glance, this Celtic head appears to have been
severed from its body. Enigmatic eyes,
a mouth that gives nothing away, cloven ears.
I lean forward to read the card beneath:
Romano-British, second century, and yet:
this head was moved from place to place,
never attached to a body, protected,
some say worshipped.
I want to reach through the glass,
to feel that old, rough stone.
How do we touch the sacred?


Celtic Head (Berndwuersching)


Tomorrow's prompt: Silence or noise.

You can visit OctPoWriMo at http://www.octpowrimo.com/ to read what others have written. Thank you, Morgan Dragonwillow.

12 comments:

  1. You captured the mystery of those Celtic heads. They were probably intended to be touched, reverently, not kept in a glass case.

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    1. From what I learned, the heads were considered at the very center of spirituality . . . people kept stone heads like these in their homes, perhaps much like some home altars. Thank you for reading and commenting.

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  2. Beth, the way you have woven your words around that image is really challenging.Brilliant.

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    1. Thank you for visiting, Sunita. I'm glad you liked this poem.

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  3. I love the perspective of touch that you showed in your poem! Excellent!

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    1. Thank you for visiting, Carol, and for appreciating my take on 'touch'.

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  4. Someday I'm going to get in trouble because I won't be able to resist touching something in a museum.

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    1. Thank you, Alexandra. Your comment reminded me of a very thrilling moment when I did actually touch one of those stone monoliths at Stonehenge (and at similar sites in Scotland). Today, visitors are not allowed to walk within those revered stone circles.

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  5. Your description is compelling. Makes me wonder what would happen if you did touch that stone head!

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    1. Hello, Jade. I think Jane Doughherty (above) said it best. I believe, most likely, people did touch these religious artifacts reverently.

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  6. I always want to touch the things behind the glass.

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    1. A very few museums around the world allow their curators to take artifacts out of those glass cases and keep them in their offices -- for study, no doubt.

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