The following poem can be found in And If I Go With Child?: Re-imagining the Mysteries of Tam Lin, by Charlotte Hussey, to be released 1 February.
1
Homesickness seizes some
in spite of how I spice
my frothy, rose-hip wine.
I pluck out their eyes,
put in those of a tree,
plugged tight with grainy
bark. They leave blind
to how we go about
stealing what we will.
My lovers fear the tumble
back into time like a tree
fallen on hard ground.
I fill damp mouths
with clumps of moss. I bind
limbs and hands with tangled
vines. I call up
squalls of snow to blanket
where they rest, given
over to my wild wood.
2
Turning my back
on this worldly romance,
I bundle the yellowing leaves
of a thorn bush around me.
I fashion my skirts into a plaid
of twisted black branches
and slender, savage briars.
Nothing flowers anymore.
I sink the way marsh
light, beyond your reach,
settles back into a bog.
Storied, spindly pines
crowd in,
knotholes everywhere.
RITONA is pleased to announce the publication of And If I Go With Child? : Re-imagining the Mysteries of Tam Lin, by poet Charlotte Hussey.
Through twenty-seven poems, Charlotte Hussey explores the initiatory potential of the ancient Scottish faery story, “The Ballad of Tam Lin.”