Aftermath
Dark as ink this fig on your outstretched hand
what kind of offering is it
please verify
I can’t figure out what to do with
the slumped weight of it
though your voice is persuasive enough
to return me to blossom
could I place it with reverence in the appointed bowl
a purple-black shadow multiplying
in polished copper
or tear it in half to smear on my wrists
soured sweetness in the dry-down
the fig’s florets opened in darkness
innocent of the wasp
winter tightens around me
flames creep back to life
the fig’s stored summer is barely plausible
Fiona Larkin’s debut pamphlet, A Dovetail of Breath, was published by Rack Press in 2020 http://rackpress.