Bark Rubbings Do you have any recollection of that pine tree? Your gaze close up to the rough bark – studying the weeping sap? Do you remember how it all happened on a hot day, long past? And can you recall how you put your finger into the wound? – Just out of curiosity, to test the viscosity of its tears and smell its sharp scent, so like disinfectant but wild? And did you find your fingers suddenly glued so that your right hand turned into a paw and you had to walk away holding it up like a metaphor, wondering how on earth summer could do that to you and leave you flexing your claws and wanting to climb and climb to some higher branch where honey might be the good blood?
Valerie Maria Anthony is a London and Hampshire-based poet who has published In Oremus Magazine and Amethyst Review. She believes poetry can be an instrument of grace and takes joy seriously enough to look for it everywhere. She has many years of experience facilitating creative writing workshops in social care settings and is a trained visual artist.
Amethyst Review 