Corinna Board – Two Poems
wounded deer
after Frida Kahlo
if life is a forest then it was never going to be
long before the first arrow hit you leap
through birches over brambles sometimes
you stop to sleep and the moss is soft and
night promises she’ll watch over you but you
know what’s coming you’ve heard the stories
of wolves and men of wolfish men who
hunt to kill you’re tired of running and
you’re not Daphne you can’t become tree
when he draws his bow you look death
straight in the eye the sky’s split by lightning
it bleeds as it opens
You say Pick a colour
and I say purple. Like the orchid in my bedroom
window that stopped flowering because I didn’t
water it enough. Purple, like a bruise, like
bruised skies, the rosacea on Grampy
Rowland’s cheeks—a curse I dodge by slapping
on sunscreen, even in winter. Purple: the
Beaujolais nouveau you pour into my glass,
the glass I break, a particular patch of woodland
where the violets come early.
Seventh colour of the rainbow, an amethyst
pressed between palms like a prayer; a
replacement for God. Purple haze, purple
rain—music as memory, bullet shot of
nostalgia. Petals pooling, tannin on my tongue.
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Corinna Board teaches English as an additional language in Oxford. She grew up on a farm, and her writing is often inspired by the rural environment. She particularly enjoys exploring our connection to the more-than-human. Her work has appeared in various journals, and she was recently commended in the Verve Eco-poetry competition. Arboreal, her debut pamphlet, was published in January. Find her on Instagram @parole_de_reveuse or X/Twitter @CorinnaBoard.
Artwork: The Stag’s Nightmare by Helen Gwyn Jones
Helen Gwyn Jones started recording her world at the age of 8 when she bought a Brownie camera from her sister, something which has become a lifelong passion. A collector of the past (hers and other people’s) she likes nothing better than muted images of imperfection. Oft found poring over Welsh grammar books when not photographing drains or rapturing over rust. Recently published at Acropolis Journal, Paddler, Pareidolia, Blink Ink, Hecate, Moss Puppy, Levatio, Camas, Storyteller’s Refrain, Full House Literary. Instagram: @helengwynjones Twitter: @helengwynjones Facebook: Helen Gwyn Jones Photographic Artist