But now I have put away
the pepper and dirt
and have a mouth all full
of big yellow teeth
when I was banished
I spoke like the banished
my, my, my,
gardenia and gladioli
now it rains, rains and rains
like wheat in a wreath
*
lingers his hyacinth
picking up what i put down
enchant
someone’s little blue
husband in the hawthorn
away my grievance
with his blushing blue
frankincense
who needs her innocence?
when i die
i go to boy heaven
*
grinds broccoli
with
a savage pity
up by the hard ear bone
and she a great dancer
if nothing else
remember this
she made a soup
*
nothing like a dying pater
serious boohoo
rough smooth
tripe treat
but what’s it to you granddad?
baa
baa
black
sheep
*
it would matter tremendously
if in our midst
there were
a thresh of frost
its
werewolf vs amethyst
and I know where my money is
it matters whether
an iris grew
from that there drop of sweat
and a pumpkin from the blood
glad tidings of comfort and joy
*
breakfast be my idle bridle
when winter’s coffee
is soft as the lily
i sidle out my bed of ivy
as from the pine
lets fly my nightly care
slim picking for finches
more tired than the dawn
that breaks you there
dead bulrush, dead penny
still i will be merry
Cat Woodward is a feminist lyric poet. Her first collection Sphinx (Salò Press) was published in November 2017. She is currently finishing her PhD thesis (UEA) in lyric and robot voice. She lives in Nelson, New Zealand. Her poems have appeared in Tears in the Fence, Lighthouse, The Literateur, Ink, Sweat & Tears, Visual Verse and others.
andotherpoems.com 