This note is to tell you you must go on a journey. You need to fetch for her: • An elephant’s tear though it will evaporate in your stoppered tube. • A pinch of clay
This note is to tell you you must go on a journey. You need to fetch for her: • An elephant’s tear though it will evaporate in your stoppered tube. • A pinch of clay scratched from a rhino’s horn though she will laugh as she rubs it from her palm. • That eyelash from the tiger though she will fling it in the fire as you watch. You must go all that way and come back. Not to tell the story, but to preserve a flake of ash from that burnt hair; to set aside a speck of that dust and gently season these with a scrape of crystal salt. After all, this is a poem for her.
Sue Finch
Sue Finch lives with her wife in North Wales. Her work has appeared in a number of online magazines including: The Interpreter’s House, Ink, Sweat and Tears, Dear Reader, One Hand Clapping and IceFloe Press. Her debut collection, ‘Magnifying Glass’, was published in October 2020 with Black Eyes Publishing UK.
Twitter: @soopoftheday