Two Poems by Kate Garrett

 

wight

 

air is a staircase you climb, a road to bump

along. you live your entire life above us—

 

never stroll a pebbled beach, touch evergreen

spires of a holy forest. you are made simply

for the sky. you knock on our windows, let

us know you exist, red gore of sunset your

 

backdrop. your world seems endless, but it

ends with us. an expanse of ever-changing blues

 

and reds, lilac and yellow backlight black

cloud scowl; the dance between your kind

and the raindrops, thunder growl, the hum

of lightning. this is your country, where maps

 

are alien. you’re resigned to a life beneath

the stars, above the trees, out of our reach.

 

 

the book of saint discord

 

she reads the story of you aloud

before it happens—she pulls

each step and stumble

from between two cracked

covers, turns pages with nails

like blackthorn spikes.

 

she leaves whispers in the bedside

drawer while you sleep

and in the morning you shake

them from your ears like stale

dreams. be careful who you trust

and what you wish for, her voice

 

tumbles down. eyes only for you

blink like jewels, their milk berry

chill patters across your shoulders.

all the holes in the road, toothy traps

in the wood, the hundred deaths

behind your eyes in the dark before

 

the dawn. she writes the story

of you in crushed beetle ink,

letters sprawl like spider tracks.

there is no other way to prove this love,

this thing you called out to the gods

for, but she will give you a happy ending.

Kate Garrett is a writer with witchy ways and a significant folklore, history, and horror obsession. Her work is widely published online and in print. Her most recent books are the historical, time-hopping verse novella Hart & Ha'penny (TwistiT Press, 2021) and a full-length poetry collection, Sunward/Moonwise (Impspired, 2021). Born and raised in rural southern Ohio, USA, Kate moved to the UK in 1999, where she still lives now - in Shropshire, with her husband, five children, and an assortment of land and water creatures. Find her on Instagram @thefolklorefaery, Twitter @folklore_faery, and her website www.kategarrettwrites.co.uk