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From: Vol.07 N.01 – Plant Poetics

Buttercups

by Tracy Ryan

Commonplace,

held under

anyone’s chin,

though unrevealing

of preference,

merely transferring gloss,

 

hot lustre

nothing but mirror

a proffered face

in multiple –

so many the same on offer!

 

I could never wear yellow like this,

my undertone cool,

distorting to jaundice

 

thus I keep distance,

but recognise

 

an intimacy nearly sisterly,

hermaphrodite

with guidelines built in,

for luring to pit,

to spot,

to nectary –

 

or you can poultice it,

bring up your red,

your blood,

relieve

the pounding head, the tooth,

 

curing your ache to the root.

Published: March 2020
Tracy Ryan

is a Western Australian poet who has also lived for long periods overseas. Her most recent book of poems is The Water Bearer (Fremantle Press, 2018).

An Australian and international
journal of ecopoetry and ecopoetics.

Plumwood Mountain Journal is created on the unceded lands of the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and to elders past, present and future. We also acknowledge all traditional custodians of the lands this journal reaches.

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