WEBVTT

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- Another just two parts from
a series from another longer

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work, and this one
revolves, Hannah

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mentioned it in the intro,
around anatomical votives

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of 2nd century BC,
particularly in Central Italy.

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Anatomical votives are physical
material representations

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of body parts dedicated
to Saints or gods,

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often in things for
healing or health.

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And I'm particularly interested
in material renderings

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of wombs, which are
often dedicated in things

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for fertility or for birth.

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And they serve as
a kind of emblem

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of fulfillment and
reciprocation between the human

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and the divine.

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And so this poem is
called "Reliquary",

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which is a container for
relics or sacred objects.

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And it sort of negotiates
containment and fulfillment

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of prayer, the historical
archive, labor, motherhood.

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So these are two
sections in the voice

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of the archivist
uncovering the relics,

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but as the series
goes on there are also

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the voices of different mothers,
but this is just the archivist.

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"Reliquary"

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One, the archivist.

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It's taken decades to
archive all their icons.

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The nitrile gloves
have cast my hands.

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Two stark believers in
ritual's accumulation.

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I have no answers.

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My work is simple.

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Haul these terracotta wombs
from one tarp to another,

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record the cruel history
of mercy made touchable.

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There are 900 exactly.

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I counted them twice.

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I surveyed a valley
for clay hands,

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marble gallstones
wrapped in gilded cords.

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God only speaks this language
of relics to mothers,

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huddled in a marble
hem, anticipating.

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Each womb lipped and
glazed, deep grooves

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to grip them better, to
scale the statue of a saint

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and rest a prayer
upon her shoulder,

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to raise each hollow
to a waiting ear.

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