Virgin Soil

Mudcrack hands and lichen eyes

Stained glass spine

Love you ’til my cheeks won’t dry

Bathed in brine

And the seedlings won’t sprout

Ivy organs overgrown

Cut me out

Shattered glasses, blackened bones

Lager louts

And the fox fights his friends

You told me of the garden

As we sat in chapel stalls

I’ll rest my spade by the sycamore tree

Where you taught me to walk

As I clung to your knees

Now the soil fills your mouth

And the roots drag you down

You’re home

Custard iris, veins in bloom

Infant’s smile

Night swim through the moonlit gloom

Cracked sundial

Now your hand’s on my chest

As the garden takes hold