Molasses & Snow
In spite of the art class On Desecration I cannot vandalize
but cut out a copied inscription A une ex-Canadienne
to paste above my mother’s face & shoulders which rest
on a plinth of text highlighted yellow|Such a surprise
to read words I had only heard spoken|her childhood
memory our favourite bed-time story|Les enfants poussèrent
les cries de joie|She and her siblings pouring the boiling syrup
drop by drop into the sizzling snow|the brittle gobbets
a precursor to the fudge & toffee we’d die for|‘Molasses’
derives from the Proto-Indo-European mélid and cognates
include the Ancient Greek μέλι (méli) and all those edible
words like the Latin mel |Spanish melaza|and the French
mélasse which links to the hint of treacle in my picture
que la mère Chapdelaine laissait tomber goute à goute sur la neige
Lucy Hamilton co-edits Long Poem Magazine. Her collection Stalker (Shearsman 2012), was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. Her next collection is forthcoming from Shearsman. Recent poetry and artwork is in Long Exposure #4.