emerald earrings
misfortune from nowhere
stooped like a peregrine
folded, weaponized
slicing away before from after
as clean as cutting butter
or severing heads
half the house is collapsed
open to the weather
defenceless, astounded
the other half upright, its insides
exposed like a doll’s house
but staunch, refusing to fall
I also refuse
I will put on my emerald earrings
the ones shaped like dragonflies
this little rowan seedling
I will plant for us all
here, by the door
Mandy Macdonald firmly believes that poetry can change the world, even just a little. You will find her recent work in Poetry Scotland, Pennine Platform, wildfire words, and elsewhere. Her pamphlet The temperature of blue (2020) is available from bluesalt.co.uk.