Survival Skills |
by Leilanie Stewart

Just before I graduated
and started my first full time job
as a field archaeologist
my tutor gave me
a fieldwork safety awareness book.
I learned how
you can blow up a raincoat
to provide buoyancy
in the event of sinking
into a bog or mire, and,
how you should never
rub a victim of hypothermia
as this carries blood 
away from vital organs
letting heat escape through their skin, but,
such a book teaches nothing
of what a woman should do
to pluck her eyebrows
on a desert island
and what about periods?
These things crossed my mind
So much for vanity.

___
Leilanie Stewart's poetry has appeared in numerous print and online magazines and anthologies in the UK and US. She worked as a professional archaeologist in Northern Ireland and her forthcoming pamphlet from Eyewear Publishing, A Model Archaeologist, explores the theme. Her writing blog is at:http://leilaniestewart.wordpress.com