Anatomy

by Ari Berk

Wren left a polished stone within the oaken bower;

it was thus you came to know your bones.

Feathers were tied to blackthorn branches;

your coat was made from these.

Badger scribed solstitial sonnets on dark ash leaves;

on these your name was spelled.

A hedge witch boiled berries;

brought your blood up from the sod and soil.

Apples gave you flesh and scent

yet now they mold and rot and grow again

from hidden seeds;

thus your nature works its way.

There are mushrooms for a brain,

Owl talons, vervain, mandrake,

and something else, unnamed,

that sets the shallow winter sap upon its face

and grants the Greenman motion

and binds him to the forest waste.