Will Archaeologist Dig Us Up?

featured in the book Good Day with the art of Gale Whitman

We inter kitchen waste in our garden where it helps us produce
        tomatoes,
        lettuce,
        and beans,
which, in turn, make garden debris and kitchen waste for us to bury where they will help us produce
        tomatoes,
        lettuce,
        and beans.

 

Will Archeologist Dig Us Up?

Bob Komives

 

With burning banned and land fill filling, we should match production to our rate of decay. We do not. Our garden rises. Every fifth year we add three and one-half inches of timber around rising vegetables in our risen soil. Elsewhere in our yard the rise is subtle. Our house sinks without moving. Patio and walk descend to become pond and river, while culprit flowers and lawn look innocent.

I never understood why archaeologist must unearth cities, dig down, and further down through past city below, into lost civilization beneath, to disinter them, bring them up and out, from oblivion into history. I did not understand until I noticed my land grow upward at millennial pace toward burial of my home—obscuring:
        noble purpose,
        romance,
        our sense of good citizenship
        in burial of garbage
        where
        and when
        we live.
Our commandments are noble and moral, are they not?
        Live with our garbage!
        Make it useful!

        And, in turn,
        Fight erosion!
Erosion robs soil and nutrient—carries them away as spoil and pollution. I do seek to prevent erosion—have supported its prevention by others. Lately, however, as I inter bucketfuls of kitchen waste I unearth questions:
    Will archaeologist dig us up?
        with purpose?
        by accident?
    How tiny is that likelihood?
        for this era?
        my neighborhood?
    Or, is erosion the only likely future,
        humble accident,
        ignoble story
    that may keep us above oblivion?

Bob Komives :: Fort Collins © 2003 :: Will Archaeologist Dig Us Up? :: 0302