Jane Henderson has lived in a Suffolk village for over 20 years, where she is a gardener and sculptor. Often her ideas hatch whilst gardening and some develop into poems. Her work has been published in magazines and anthologies. Her poem ‘ Demeter’s Footprints’ was commended in Suffolk Poetry Society’s Crabbe Poetry Competition 2023.
Demeter’s Footprints
Poppy thief, I go out with intent –
a plastic bag and daisy grubber,
planning the route, to take the spoils
not far from home, the transpiration
on a hot evening. I’d seen the red
spectacle in the field with vetch
and fancied this blood red splash
on the black barn fence. I probe
the sandy soil and pull the milky
tap root like a tooth, checking
there is no-one else about. Each
I filch has just one flower but, oh,
the promising buds, dangling
pods abrim with crimson dreams,
abrasive to the touch, and pent,
perhaps, with something else,
like grief, held back, not yet burst,
waiting to vent. And I get them home
without delay, slit some openings
in my gravelly substrate, heel them
in, gush water in my desperation
to keep them, hoping their tap
roots will find anchor here, will hold
them safe, that the fecund pods
erupt and come and come again.
J. Henderson.