A Bad Spell
The rowan by the house is cracked in two,
her bark ragged, grown good-for-nothing old.
Fungi feed haphazardly and once, a treecreeper,
his heart of white running like love on her trunk.
A calligraphy of twigs marks wind-spun air,
frail small artwork against massing rain.
I would climb inside the gap where the rowan
arches and parts, quench my mouth with sap
meld myself into her sex, bear blossom
and berries, a curse against storms.
Lynn Valentine lives in the Black Isle. Her debut poetry collection, Life’s Stink and Honey, was published by Cinnamon Press in 2022 after winning their literature award. Her Scots pamphlet, A Glimmer o Stars, was published by Hedgehog Poetry in 2021, She is working on her next collection for Cinnamon Press.