Lew Watts
Deposition
“Help yourself,” the quarryman says. Steve saunters over to the dark layer, then motions for me to come. This is indeed what we’ve been looking for—the Sandwick Fish Bed, of Devonian age. The rock splits easily, and we find fragments of the armored fish, Coccosteus, and an occasional fin. We note a sheen preserved on many split surfaces. This is primary current lineation, caused by the alignment of tiny mica flakes as water sloshed across the ancient lake bed. The sheen marks the orientation of the paleocurrent, but not its direction. Suddenly, I hear a yell—Steve has found something. There, in the middle of a large mica-sheened surface, lies a complete Osteolepis. The fossil fish appears perfect, though one scale is missing. Nine inches away, along the primary current lineation, we find it.
where she was found. . . my mother's head pointing against the tide
About the Author
Lew Watts is the author of Tick-Tock (Snapshot Press, 2019), a haibun collection that received an Honorable Mention in the Haiku Society of America’s 2020 Merit Book Awards. His publications include the novel Marcel Malone and the poetry collection Lessons for Tangueros. He lives in Chicago.
I was caught up in the shared thrill and scientific explication of the palaeontological discoveries, then … your haiku. Which led me back to a completely different meaning in the title. Devastating and powerful, Lew.
Thanks, Marietta. I long time surfacing this one.
Beautifully, powerfully written, Lew. The emotional impact is strong and deftly worked—reflective of that “long time surfacing” in your note to Marietta. The paleontological and forensic layers, together with the emotional compression of time—deep earth history, human life history, memory as the persistent now—thank you for this haibun.
Lovely comments, Kate—thank you so much.