Rose petals are pieces of skin

Start with vocabulary

Start with grenades, tweezers
a prime ministerial speech

Love everything

Feel the awkward guilt
of never being quite kind enough

Pluck at tiny hairs
once or twice a month

Match enchantment with rage
and see stars fly

Hatred matters
Can you say that in a whisper?

I am stony in front of my friends
My cheeks are grey as drains

Distance is neither here nor there

And peace as makeshift
as birds, that morning

I think about squeals and snorts
of laughter –

These momentary losses
of control

Jane Goldman responds to Lynn Davidson

no country woman

^
i-i am a no country woman
loosely rooted but i-i flow

the world is my country anarchist
a glen of weeping

is there a more romantic
existence in one country

in one art or has art now lost
its mental charms there’s no

peace in avoiding life carry
me across any country under

ground for one country is two
systems what can poetry do

^^
what kind of utterances
damage civic space if speech

is the surplus of the kiss
in troubador country i-i

distrust landscape there’s
instability in the countryside

these are phrases on an old
lady’s purse destabilise this

text with the delicacy
and perfection

of its details see countryside
with detachment there’s

always a polarising armory
show and lovers at the same

table with creme fraiche
keep it in your lap as you

enter the country of words

JL Williams responds to Lynn Davidson