Found placed against her upper right arm
Garment pin of Queen Puabi, Mesopotamia, 2500 B.C.
A pin unpinned,
Ashley is asked
to bare
her long spine
to beams
of electric
light, her skin
of gold
untouched
and apart
from any fabric;
the function
to which
she was born
is now collapsed
like the ribcage
of the prominent
woman who once
lifted her up
by her head
of gold and
lapis lazuli
and plunged
her deep
into her
sumptuous
ensemble’s
folds.
