Sunday, 9 April 2023

Salted Heart

 

Day Nine





Her heart's been salted. Hung to dry in the

Curing house and smoked, and cut with cold-clove,

Naked garnet. Once it thumped like rabbit

Feet, a ship with banks of oarsmen heaving,

Once it leapt and was intoxicated,

Or it sang and shook its feathers like a

Magnificent Riflebird, mad with the season.

She outlived the winter of miracles.


No-one knows the ways in which her heart is

Peppered, rare and sweet with hot, juice-blooms of

Serious blue. And none will feel the flutter

Of her wild and apple-green abandon.


Her heart's been seasoned. Oak-aged, raw in salt.

And she will not let any creature eat.




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