Content Warning: death, bones, dark themes
Anna Saunders – The Milk-White Doo
In a bowl marbled scarlet
​
she cooks a snow hare.
​
She cannot help eating.
​
Soon her husband’s dinner is gone.
​
Greed can stone the heart.
​
Her boy is in the garden
​
small enough to broil.
​
Come here my little son
​
reared on milk and moon.
​
You will silver my pot.
​
Slow cook, flesh
​
falls away from the bones
​
like petals from the autumn rose.
​
The bury him under the boulders,
​
his body already light.
​
The killers’ hearts petrify,
​
as this boy’s waxen bones are feathered.
​
He flies above the earth,
​
singing the song of all that is airborne,
​
a dove the colour of spun silk.
​
​
After the folk story of ‘ The Milk White Doo’.
Anna Saunders has been described as ‘a poet who surely can do anything’ by The North, ‘a modern myth maker’ by Paul Stephenson, and Tears in the Fence said of her ‘Anna Saunders’ poetry is reminiscent of Plath – with all its alpha achievement and radiance’. She is the author of Communion, (Wild Conversations Press), Struck, (Pindrop Press) Kissing the She Bear, (Wild Conversations Press), Burne Jones and the Fox (Indigo Dreams), and Ghosting for Beginners, (Indigo Dreams). Anna’s new book is Feverfew. (Indigo Dreams). The collection has been described as ‘rich with obsession, sensuousness and potency’ by Ben Ray, and as ‘a beautiful and necessary collection’ by Penny Shuttle. She is also the Executive Director of Cheltenham Poetry Festival and works as a creative writing tutor and mentor, communications specialist, journalist, broadcaster and copywriter/editor.
Artwork: Seagulls by Julia Gavrilova
Julia Gavrilova is a printmaker and surface pattern designer who grew up in Russia and now lives in Switzerland. Her creative journey started in middle school and then developed through years into what she is now. Her works are inspired by nature's basic forms, textures and colors.