All that is Buried, by Sarah Sassoon

All that is Buried 

Warriors cannot stop
contemplating exile
although they want 
only to sit 

Hand caressing cheek
dry eyes closed now
because who 
wants to see

What happened since 
pottery was buried  
future hints
no one holds

Without the clay handle
of jugs we question 
such redness
such brown cracks 

So we become cracked earth 
racked with reasoning
an arm flung 
over our past 

What we want is such repose
on naked knee
uncovered 
by digging

Dirty clothes need to be washed
thinking won’t find
forefathers
lost tent pegs

But I cannot stop this digging 
in the dirt to find
the thinking
Jew displaced

In the tomb of burial gifts 
we learn slowly 
alongside weapons
and donkey bones

Sarah Sassoon

Sarah Sassoon is a writer of Jewish-Iraqi descent. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Michigan Quarterly Review, Lilith, The Roadrunner Review and elsewhere. She is the recipient of the Andrea Moriah Poetry prize, and a runner-up for the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Poetry Award. Her first children’s picture book, Shoham’s Bangle is forthcoming with Kar-Ben Publishing in 2022. She lives in Jerusalem with her husband, four boys and dog. Visit her at [email protected]