Lost time Traveller

I came across this poem today while I was cleaning up my website – from memory it was written not long after my Grandfather Arthur Benson died in 2001.

lost time traveller-mapping connections of power
traces of heredity patterns of migration
mining-digging-theories of excavation
motherland-genetic memories-coal miners working
far beneath the surface-the fate of the old country
fatherland-disowned-silent
suppressed stories
invisible too late now-for the tale of the boy
who gave his family electric light
from a box on a pole….
memories collide-identity forever shifted-change of perspective
multiple connections create form context
forever in the past
otherland

This poem is a timely reminder that my interest in identity, place and memory has been evolving over many years and that these themes continue to have relevance in my work.