Gedicht
Clare Pollard
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When you must climb the slippery hill, a woman’s back bruisedtender with heather, & frozen puddles are fingernails gone bad,
then someone is to blame.
When you must wade for miles through ragged-robin, the rain-knives
& bog-rosemary to beg alms, when the neighbours owe you oats,
then someone is to blame.
When your children curdle like milk & turn one by one to clay dolls,
& your husband’s fledgling-weak & you’re a good Christian woman,
then someone is to blame.
When you dream of a woman fucking goats or men with horns;
of waking the witch, swimming her — lime-scalded & vice-tight,
then someone is to blame.
When you imagine her face yoked in a bridle & you want to slit
below her heart & suck there; weigh her weight against a bible,
then someone is to blame.
When the merlin steals hen-chicks & your fields are blighted
like a mouthful of black teeth, & your cow stark mad
then someone is to blame.
© 2008, Clare Pollard
Publisher: First published on PIW,
Publisher: First published on PIW,
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When you must climb the slippery hill, a woman’s back bruisedtender with heather, & frozen puddles are fingernails gone bad,
then someone is to blame.
When you must wade for miles through ragged-robin, the rain-knives
& bog-rosemary to beg alms, when the neighbours owe you oats,
then someone is to blame.
When your children curdle like milk & turn one by one to clay dolls,
& your husband’s fledgling-weak & you’re a good Christian woman,
then someone is to blame.
When you dream of a woman fucking goats or men with horns;
of waking the witch, swimming her — lime-scalded & vice-tight,
then someone is to blame.
When you imagine her face yoked in a bridle & you want to slit
below her heart & suck there; weigh her weight against a bible,
then someone is to blame.
When the merlin steals hen-chicks & your fields are blighted
like a mouthful of black teeth, & your cow stark mad
then someone is to blame.
PENDLE
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