Ballachulish Goddess and the Lindow Man
“Both are long dead. She, a goddess carved from a single
piece of alder and he, a nameless man who died
a triple death. Love stories always start with obstacles.
Picture him – no more than a boy – lying knees to chest,
curled in the same early ball he started in before the wrack
of oxygen and people broke light in his eyes. ...”
About the poem
This poem is one of three to appear in The Cannon's Mouth, Issue 60.
This poem formed part of my MA Dissertation, in which I examined the physical and culture clash between native Britons and Romans in Ancient Britain. It is the result of both careful research and a flight of fancy. The Lindow Man is displayed in The British Museum and the Ballachulish Goddess in the National Museum of Scotland. The two have no relation to each other and the only thing they have in common is that they were buried in a place that allowed them to be preserved. They were brought together in this poem thanks to one of the ways I organise my thoughts; I use a whiteboard to write down interesting phrases and ideas. I noticed that both had buried face down next to them and I thought perhaps I could bring them together. In doing so, I became interested in the idea of why we create connections and a narrative for artefacts and link them to ourselves and our own lives.