CARBON 14: CHANT FOR MATERIALS WHOSE
AGES HAVE BEEN DETERMINED

Antler, bone, blood,
Corals, coproletes, caliche,
The Dead Sea Scrolls,
Eggshell.
Foraminafera,
Gyttja, glues, hair, horn,
Ice cores, iron, insect remains,
Jetsam, Kennewick Man, leather,
Lake mud, meteorites, marl,
Nuda,
Ores, peat, pollen,
Pottery, paintings, parchment, paper,
Quivers,
Resins,
Seeds, shells, sediments, soils, speleothems,
The Shroud of Turin,
Teeth, textiles, twigs, tufa,
Urns, vertebrae, wood, water,
Xiphosura,
The Y Hole at Stonehenge,
Zoser's tomb.

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In writing about Carbon 14 (for a series of poems, each including a number) I first wanted to use the esoteric language of half-lives, beta radiations, and decay products. In the end, though, I found the list of materials more evocative. I love the sounds of "tufa," "caliche," "marl." Each item on the list seems to open an exotic and ancient world; suggestive of an archaeologist opening a tomb.