Unknown

 

[Unknown]

 

“Found poem for New Year”

 

to facilitate contact

between the world of the living

and that of the dead, these tombs

 

painted limestone only traces of pigment

originally vibrantly blue green red black

and yellow are now visible

 

men harvesting, donkeys carrying crops

to the granary, beer and bread

magically supplied to the deceased

 

the location of the king’s tomb was

unfortunately not recorded

most of the superstructure was moved

 

originally most likely erected at Saqqara

its exact location

remains unknown

 

not much is known about himself either

except what is recorded

on the tomb’s walls

 

the offerings are for the couple

but also for their children

at the funerary banquet

 

who are enjoying themselves

with large heaps of food

surrounded by musicians and dancers

 

some names are carved in stone

other children were also named but

inscription is not visible anymore

 

Found poem for New Year: Marie Vandenbeusch, “In focus: the Mastaba of Urirenptah and Khentkaus”, in ‘Pharoah’, NGV and the British Museum, 2024, pp. 174-177. Image taken at NGV St. Kilda Road: detail of the wall from the mastaba tomb, 5^th Dynasty, c. 2494-2345 BCE, Saqqara, Egypt, in the ‘Pharoah’ exhibition.

 

Unknown

 

Turning out the light I begin wondering about ‘a poem of the unknown’. Turn it back on and write ‘a poem of the unknown’ in my notebook, no poem as such forthcoming, to visit next morning. Extinguishing the light again, I go into deep sleep, there to dream unknown experiences. Dream of opening night of a play where I’m a lead part but have not learnt my lines. Made worse by the realisation I’m also in another play showing at the same time in another part of town, script unlearnt. Wake with relief in the morning, sunny January and blessedly cool, with the prospect of googling ‘a poem of the unknown’. Responds with poems about the unknown soldier, author unknown (anonymous), lines in search of an author’s name, Auden’s ‘The Unknown Citizen’, study notes explaining what ‘The Unknown Citizen’ is about. Ask myself, do notes sum up a poem? Are they help or hindrance? Is anything left to the imagination? Are notes just a way of getting through the exam? Decide that the questions answer themselves in the negative. Leave the whole matter alone. Reflect that everything we collect and put around us are knowns. Note how knowns is a lovely half-rhyme with nouns. Exist as knowns in the sense of being expressions and objects redolent of our knowing. Surrounding ourselves with unknowns is not a common pastime. Or is it? Consider, meanwhile, that we are anyway surrounded with unknowns all the time. Starting with the universe itself, which anyway is multiverses, a subject for multiverse poetry. Continuing in real time with the smooth indeed sublime workings of our own bodies, which hurt and heal in ways unknown to the actual bearer. Marvel at doctors who seem to know, dictating into their voiceboxes with pharmacy fluency and medical Latin. Walking along to the shops for morning coffee, I ponder unknown stories behind a hundred passing doorways. Wonder at the causes of their arguments, unknown even to themselves. Meditate on love, springing unknown to resolve the sorriest mess. Drink coffee and think of science for a moment, last word on the known, until replaced by the previously unknown. Brood temporarily over history, the unknowns buried out of sight in a field, the knowns whose grievous biographies sell better than any poetry. Make mental notes, how past may be unknowable as the future. Wrestle with poetry, now that we mention it, the sweetness at the base of the glass, as its words speak with seeming dogmatism of things they admit they know only so much. Consuming the end of the croissant, all I have are crumbs for my ‘poem of the unknown’, a flower without a name here, a thought without a predicate there, a whole day in which to make up any script I like about the unknown.

Unknown (July)

Woollarawarre Bennelong (circa 1764–1813) is here portrayed by Unknown. Did Unknown travel by ship over unfamiliar waters to an unfamiliar land, with an assortment of other Unknowns? Or was Unknown a homebody, born to enjoy the luxuries of England? Their names are in registers, their letters home, their sketches and prints may be filed somewhere, known or unknown. We think we know about Bennelong, yet but for the happenstance of Settlement he would be, together with his people, Unknown. Like the settlers and prisoners, just to the left of the household name, labouring through July, with the Unknown majority.