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From: Vol.07 N.01 – Plant Poetics

Utterance

by Basma Kavanagh

with long felted throats but lacking tongues,

we talk in flared flamenco gesture,

the swirl of spun-skirts that flounce

to the syncopated claps of poplar leaves.

speech is for animals. we dance, mine meaning

and secret, flex ruffled flesh to test

coiled tendrils of air. we raise black wings

and flap, stamp damp leaves, shiver tempo

down to listening roots, the rapt hyphae,

delve into the seeping cracks between realms.

we twirl in slow motion, snap

with electricity, whip spores over acres

of thrumming forest, deliver our fierce piece

with pieces of ourselves.

Published: March 2020
Basma Kavanagh

is a poet, visual artist, and letterpress printer who lives and works in Nova Scotia, in Mi’kma’ki. She has published two collections of poetry, Distillō (Gaspereau, 2012), and Niche (Frontenac, 2015), and a book-length poem, Ruba’iyat for the Time of Apricots (Frontenac 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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