Selections from wormwood, earth and honey
by Catherine Edmunds
fly
on the last voyage she froze
legs turned blue, angular
wings yellowed
feet stuck to poison
come spring
her desiccated body fell through twigs
a stray hair
a piece of ash
crushed underfoot by horses
giving birth to spring
she disappeared altogether
ten thousand offspring
never knew
as their fat bodies squelched through the flesh
of the dead and dying
bike
he sat on his motorbike
garish, resplendent,
in periwig, surcoat and pantaloons
he waited
we waited
they waited
all waited
for the fish underneath him to ripen
and when it did
the fumes exuded
took him to Tajikistan
(and back)
and then all the way to France
