‘Hansel’……. From Orkney Arts Museums & Heritage…..Ness of Brodgar Report….
by Bernie Bell - 08:26 on 02 November 2025
Hansel
She slinks over to me sitting at the bar,
touches my arm, twirls her red hair, asks
about my job and family. Tells me she loves
to bake. Her oven is always hot. Calls me cute
and with a wink says she just wants to eat me up.
Says I should come for dinner, which I do. Her cottage
deep in the woods is painted like a gingerbread house.
She greets me with milk and cookies and fawns
over my thick hair and strong muscles while I try
not to think of her as a grandmother.
She sits me on her couch, does a sexy little dance.
But rather than excited, I'm getting sleepy.
She unbuttons my shirt yet I cannot lift my hand
to touch her fiery hair. I try to speak but only slur.
She smirks something about a secret ingredient.
Then I am naked on her counter, being crushed
by a rolling pin yet I am strangely calm.
Just noting odd sensations of pulling and popping
and cracking sounds more felt than heard.
A sprinkle of cinnamon and slides me into the oven.
Being baked was quite pleasant and warm
though I didn't like the smell of my mustache
burning off. It was only after the flesh had risen
and cooled that I could feel it. Each bite.
Each nibble. I beg her to end it. Chomp off my head.
"No. I like to hear your screams."
https://bartbarkerpoet.com/2025/10/30/hansel/
And my response was….
“Jeeeez Bart! I mean….just…..I wouldn’t like to be in your head sometimes! A v. good poem though – takes you there – even if you don’t want to be…there.”
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From Orkney Arts Museums & Heritage…..
“We're excited to share that for the first time in over 35 years, the Burray Hoard, Orkney's second largest Viking Age hoard, will be on display in Orkney Museum.
Discovered in 1889, it hoard dates to 1000 AD, and contains nearly 2kg of silver.
Items from the hoard form a part of a loan of nearly 100 objects from National Museums Scotland, including a pair of bronze 'tortoise' brooches from the Broch of Gurness and a gold ring from the Stenness hoard.
The redevelopment of our Iron Age and Viking Galleries, and the loan of these items, would not have been possible without the generous bequest from our benefactor, for which we are extremely grateful.
The Groundwater Galleries reopen on Saturday, the 1st of November, and we're looking forward to welcoming visitors in to see them.
Full press release here: https://media.nms.ac.uk/.../objects-from-the-burray-hoard...
#BurrayHoard #OrkneyMuseum #VikingTreasure #OrkneyHeritage #NationalMuseumsScotland “
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Ness of Brodgar Report….
The next in the series of Data Structure Reports (DSRs) is now available…………
https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/2011-dsr/
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