I, Calluna
am bog vegetation born from acid
like to be grazed, invite burning.
Kallunein I’m called, to sweep up,
I have been a thousand besoms in my time.
Each one of me – Beoley Crimson,
Boskoop, Firefly, Long White
display florets that peep through the snow
to famished deer and sheep.
Willow Grouse and Red Grouse peck
on me. Lochmaea suturalis
can kill me, and I become all beetle.
I dyed wool yellow and tanned leather.
I was gruit, brewed heather-beer,
my fungus is hallucinogenic.
I am a jelly until stirred, and
if you leave me alone, I will set again
to become honey.
Leave me in my comb.
Remember me as you receive
the thrusting gypsy hand:
Hamlet Green, Saint Nick,
Pearl Drop, Elkstone White,
Dainty Bess, Pennymore Gold,
Blazeaway, Darkness, Horsefeather…
The luck I bring you
will last for no more than a minute.
Josh Ekroy‘s debut collection Ways to Build a Roadblock was published in May 2014 by Nine Arches Press. He lives in the City of London.