Best Excavation Poems
Children as young as three years old,
Killed for not doing as they’re told,
Forced to forget their culture bold,
What a tragedy to unfold!
Two hundred fifteen, that ain’t less,
Young innocents abused, suppressed,
How can humans be so heartless?
It breaks my heart, I must confess,
Wonder, how they would have pleaded?
Their cries for mercy unheeded
Residential schools, not needed,
Were soon closed, but lives conceded,
In the name of education,
A way of ‘assimilation’,
Native kids faced termination,
What a gruesome excavation!
07.01.2021
{On 28 May, 2021, the bodies of 215 children were discovered in a burial site at the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School using new, ground-penetrating technology. The deaths are believed to be undocumented. The school, which was closed in the late 1970s, is located in Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation. First Nations refer to a section of indigenous inhabitants of Canada, along with Inuits and Métis people.
Between 1831 and 1996, Canada’s residential school system forcibly separated more than 1.5 lakh First Nations children from their families in order to assimilate them into the Euro-Canadian and Christian ways of living. They were forbidden to acknowledge their indigenous heritage and culture or to speak their own languages.
According to an information resource set up by the University of British Columbia, children were subjected to physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological abuse.
In 2008, then Prime Minister Stephen Harper publicly issued an apology, on behalf of the Government of Canada, to all indigenous people acknowledging the country’s role in the residential school system.}
For Edward Ibeh's "This or That, Vol 4" contest
In the corridors
of my mind and endless passages
I hold the scars that are the road map to my soul
and where words thrown at me and used as weapons
dwell in the cracks.
Fear and sorrow are like chains holding me prisoner
and I must exhume them from the darkness
disinter and expose them
from vast deep voids where they hide
in the fissures.
And the drum of time is beating and I must pierce
through the hollow shadows to dredge up
this cancer twining !
The path is endless
as I dig and chip at the darkness
leaving no door and no emptiness unchecked
as I follow all the contrived tunnels and atriums
as time is ticking.
The forest of my life is at stake and my sky is gray
but this is an excavation unfathomable
oh, through chambers silent
no matter how difficult and weary
I will crawl seeking.
This fear and sorrow is holding me back from being me
so, I will leave no rock unturned
for I must unearth ...
the darkness dwelling within me !
______________
June 21, 2021
Poetry/Verse/An Excavation
Copyright Protected, ID 06-1365-926-21
All Rights Reserved, 2021, Constance La France
Written for the Standard contest, This or That, Vol. 4
sponsor, Edward Ibeh, Judged 07/27/2021
First Place
I press my hands into the ruins of you,
fingertips cut in the quiet rot of ancient wounds
that have never quite been touched.
Beneath splintered ribs,
your earth is sulfurous in suffering—
your volcanic pulse muffled under sediment,
heart-rages arrested in amber.
I carve through your marrow-deep dusks,
knuckles bloodied on the bedrock of guilt,
digging past rusted veins and forgotten altars,
until my hands unearth something
promethean and glinting—
not relic, not wreckage—
but soft golds of you,
burning like a mantra
like a last prayer.
3.8.24
Our first date
to bridge a poker-face divide
conversation with a touch of fantasy
till thunderbolts compose themselves
in questions
"How do you define yourself?"
"What is your idea of beauty?"
"What pushes your boundaries?"
Questions to unearth the enigma
of not knowing
to map the labyrinth
to light the starkly lit palette
obscure
For what is safely hidden can be toxic
Secrets disclosed to set sparse love in motion
sometimes improbable
like catching a fly in flight
Our initial discovery
an excavation
that un-earths a new reality
to weave a narrative
fragmented
Poem composed July 15/21
Ensure you allude to all that has been recorded.
Every creature that has lived inside the rocks.
A long-forgotten former planet has appeared.
Awareness arises as we break the padlocks.
Electric fan blades are humming in a hot place.
When you're alone, and there's no oxygen.
Loneliness looms overall aped a pitiful prince.
Bedlam rises when commotion inside deepens.
Reveal if that's innocuous, or it may injure people.
Are words yet another excavation experience?
Is it feasible to resurrect a moribund principle?
Did you find it bothersome or maybe mysterious?
There is a hole where the hamster once paddled.
Since the snake hissed at it but didn't even eat it
As the animal lays on the floor, its insides splayed.
Earth has morphed into the fabric under the seat.
Besides birds, giant excavators lay on their palms.
Underneath, you may view mind-boggling and tangled traffic.
Yet, excavating a gigantic hole in the center of homes.
Let Earth deal with melting lakes or roving nomadic.
From the tenth balcony, the building site is visible.
A goliath, dead pit discharges light, fire, and vitality.
Quietness loaded up with facts yelled in din risible.
Coated with glass, gaze at a flying towel on a gallery.
Written: June 19, 2021
This or That, Vol 4 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Edward Ibeh
For good foundations, one must excavate -
removing rocks or muck or sediment.
Without this process, how can one create
a solid base on an impediment?
“Build not on sand,” a Holy One once said.
(I paraphrase; I think you get the gist.)
Remove the dirt and grit inside your head.
You cannot have a good life if a tryst
with things immoral occupies your time.
Some habits too ingrained require a blast
to get them out! But even if some crime
has weighed you down, this need not have to last.
When things must go, imagine them as rocks,
and excavate those dreadful stumbling blocks.
July 3, 2021 for Edward Ibeh's This Or That, Vol 4 Poetry Contest
sorry I keep making typos all the time!!
As one gets older some look back, some want to see what they did right and wrong. Some call this their memoirs, a life of their many memories. Maybe an excavation on life is what we needed, look deep into the many years gone by. Found what we did right, now how can we copy it. Found what we did wrong, now set it a side. When a deep life excavation is done, what will we find. Write it all down both right and wrong, pass it on to the younger ones. Many years ago the younger ones learned, they learned from the older ones in the family. Maybe we need to turn the hands on the clock back, to old practices of learning from the older family
members.
Today the younger ones seem to be lost, so lost in this crazy world we live in. If we did an excavation on our lives, what mysteries would we find. Maybe we can save a younger life, maybe make our life more meaningful in return.
Date Written: 6/21/2019
4 Place
Title: An Excavation This or That, Vol 4 Poetry Contest Sponsored by: Edward Ibeh
Virtuous excavation…
validating steadfast faith*
voiding wavering trust and hope…
vested for life-building endeavour
verily provides venue for transformation
victorious removal of sin boulders with God’s grace…
visible divine** behavioral progress paved by the Lord
voicing out trust in Christ midst vilifying vanity-vexation
valiant against pride’s visitation for vision-led revival voyage
vigilant to survey heavenly truth toward valuable eternal settlement.
*Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
July 5, 2021
4th place, "This or That, Vol 4: An Excavation" Poetry Writing Contest
Sponsored by Edward Ibeh; judged on 7/27/2021.
**Title was changed after contest was judged.
Three men are digging a hole in the ground
Their supervisor is casually standing around
A bystander is not making the slightest sound
No precious pirates’ treasure will soon astound.
Dirt brought up beneath is forming a mound
One says a jackhammer is needed to pound
Hard limestone rock is starting to confound
Six feet down will lie remains of a renowned.
HONORABLE MENTION
Written June 19, 2021
For “This or That, Vol. 4” Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Edward Ibeh
Kenyan desert lull
Measuring tape and tiny picks
Sand reveals nothing
Intrigued by what is hidden
inspired by the forbidden,
I dare to excavate the caverns of your mind.
Heartache has created walls,
walls that serve as protectors against pain and disappointment.
Past pain & old haunting hurts have banded together to stop the reoccurrence of heartache.
As a result of this alliance,
the core of you has been locked away.
I want to know you.
I want that which is concealed.
I love that of you free to be loved,
I desire to love that of you locked away.
More than having the joy of you loving me, I just want the pleasure of you- letting me, love you.
What pain has created this enigma?
What disappointment led to the construction of this wall?
Why is it so hard to just let yourself fall?
Hearts racing resulting from extreme emotion;
your pounding heart likened
to a smarting thumb.
Why does feeling cause you to become numb?
Dreams of crumbling walls and mysteries solved are all my mind can fathom.
More than revealing secrets from within, I just long to be let in.
....................In the dawns' refuse I have uncovered
Wonderful treasures & memories....
Jewels once lost to the distant past, That have arisen
From the recesses of life to rejuvenate the primal
Urge that has long slept inside this
Broken castle of words.
Here now, I send out vultures & crows
To re collect all parts of myself lost to the corners
of the known world,
I have sent out owls to take flight, transmigrant
& swift to reclaim the blazed trails of my youth
\in all the Unknown galaxies and inner spaces
of all that we as humans can ever be.
In the unkept ruins of the night
I have rediscovered all that I am
beneath the silk skin of beauty;
I have caught from the voice of
her secret lips serenading
my tongue.
-----
Open your mind
dig deep within
start excavation
throw out all bad incidents
all negatives
Remove anger, hatred, envy
End your lust
Fill that empty pit
with love, faith,
compassion
Today is new life
Past was last birth
Past was not me
From today I will live
blissfully
20.06.2021
Contest name : This or That, Vol 4
Sponsor : Edward Ibeh
Intrigued by what is hidden
inspired by the forbidden,
I dare to excavate the caverns of your mind.
Heartache has created walls,
walls that serve as protectors against pain and disappointment.
Past pain & old haunting hurts have banded together to stop the reoccurrence of heartache.
As a result of this alliance,
the core of you has been locked away.
I want to know you.
I want that which is concealed.
I love that of you free to be loved,
I desire to love that of you locked away.
More than having the joy of you loving me, I just want the pleasure of you- letting me, love you.
What pain has created this enigma?
What disappointment led to the construction of this wall?
Why is it so hard to just let yourself fall?
Hearts racing resulting from extreme emotion;
your pounding heart likened
to a smarting thumb.
Why does feeling cause you to become numb?
Dreams of crumbling walls and mysteries solved are all my mind can fathom.
More than revealing secrets from within, I just long to be let in.
Excavations expose stunning skulls of history,
Where-around emblazoned scripts cultures and creatures;
Minds of human beings and their mass mystery,
The whole lot that surrounds them with all true features...
Be it Rosetta stone or Ashurbanipal's,
Troy or king Tut's tomb; Machu Picchu or Pompeii;
Be Akrotiri Tehra or the Dead Sea Scrolls,
Olduvai Gorge, or structures stunningly cozy...
I have been wondering at unearthing premiere,
Of the terracotta army of China's first king,
Unearthed by the farmers on a mystical sphere,
Where they witnessed the painstakingly created wing...
The clay warriors with chariots and horses,
Acrobats, musicians, artisans, and craftsmen;
Buried as the emperor's crisis armed forces,
Defend him in his afterlife from every pain...
Are these artifacts blended with enormous love,
Of the citizens to their beloved king great?
Or a branch of paraphernalia does state shove,
To preserve the power of the king and elate…?
Excavations, within, are essential as well,
To ascertain every strength and frailty hidden;
To learn lessons from failures and past flaws to quell,
Every darkness dwelling in the realm, forbidden...
Let's dig! Deep! Not content with the periphery!
Expose the minds! Hearts! Bring out the innermost soul!
Hair split the history's marvelous mystery!
Test the artistry, sandstone, proficiency whole!
Think of the human hands that create every art,
Cumulating courage; working relentlessly;
Hungry, thirsty, empty-handed, love-filled at heart;
Partaking in the endless plan of God restlessly...
12 July 2021
This or That, Vol 4 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Edward Ibeh