Canopic Jars, by Brendon McLeod

A Complete Set of Canopic Jars, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland (Egypt) c. 900-800 B.C.

Canopic Jars
 
A Complete Set of Canopic Jars, Egypt, c. 900-800 B.C.,
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland.
 
Lifted carefully from the chamber by some unseen hand,
The four prosopopoeia of organic being line up, curatorial,
Under cool white light that feels like pure plane of history.
In these therianthropic jars are the remains of functional viscera:
 
North, Hapi, the baboon, who guards the lungs;
East, Duamutef, the jackal, who guards the stomach;
South, Imseti, the human, who guards the liver;
West, Qebehsenuef, the falcon, who guards the intestines.
 
White earthenware, clay. Their expressions are of mortality,
Are of sorrow, determination, hope, and anger.
The human tissue has been mummified in natron.
Energies, bodily fluids, and microbial cultures
 
Pulsed these organs, squishy and vulnerable;
They contributed to somatic psyche, the mana of organic being.
Now they are dead tissue. They look out at you, meet your gaze.
What I contain is untouchable, a mystery that you yourself contain.
​
Brendon McLeod
​
Brendon McLeod is studying a PhD in English and Writing at The University of Sydney for which he was recently awarded the Arthur Macquarie Travelling Scholarship. He was shortlisted for the Judith Wright Poetry Prize, and was awarded a fellowship to Varuna the National Writers’ House. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Rabbit Poetry, Overland, Australian Poetry Journal, and other venues. He is a jazz musician and works as a music teacher. His work often explores lived experience of mental illness. He lives on Wiradjuri Country in Australia.