Earth Myther

foam choked

trees drown

we fill

and fill

orange plastic bag

red sachet

mud chokes

wind blows

cyan rings

yellow corks

fires burn

seas brim

slice old

pattern new

layer by layer

grains sinter

pink lakes flower

violet light cures

neon trees mount

a glittering canopy

We birth dust.

I plough

deep furrows.

Loam turns.

Earth’s divine odour

bursts cinnamon and hot

spice in my mouth.

A growling scent that bombs

and scatters seed. Sweet

shrapnel. It hits the back of

my throat and swells

my belly to a gritty waxiness.

Mountains bloom.

I birth

a difficult bairn.

Sin flecked.

Warm as curd

delicate as almond blossom

my own bud. He milks me

and I am honey. Grendel:

green and fragrant.

I swallow enwomb.

2.

words                            flagellate
words                                           lift as bubbles

name                                              swaddle
you dumb                                                        close
hell bride         warrior
tarn hag           sea woman
shift beyond                                                    light
sun’s reach                                                bog sunk
elide                                                                    elude
magician/god/man    mere/moder/myther

3.

Bloodied water wells up in waves. Rivers curdle. Earth
salts. Rock bubbles. Air clots. Bones erupt. Cords cut.

                                         i u u i
                                          iuui

We rise as one. Soul tracings blister our skin. A palimpsest
of roots. We howl in ulichor and cut off our finger, place our
hand to rock. Blow red ochre. Bull. Bison. Buffalo. Babirusa.
Our feet print dust. Rain gently falls.

Earth is ploughed new.