Janice Fixter
Moth Blood
My daughter used to think moths
were no more than small snuffs of dust
now she says they are bleeding.
In the bathroom late at night
the open window is letting in moths,
wings dark and quivering -
swallow tailed, clearwing, hawk.
They are pulled to the light
and the pale warmth of her skin.
She is washing her hands
after a field trip to the Somme,
to the graveyards.
The black ink of school text books
shouts out the reasons
while rows of white stones whisper
...aged seventeen.
She is rinsing her hands, her face,
flutters of moths are still clinging -
I must close the window.
were no more than small snuffs of dust
now she says they are bleeding.
In the bathroom late at night
the open window is letting in moths,
wings dark and quivering -
swallow tailed, clearwing, hawk.
They are pulled to the light
and the pale warmth of her skin.
She is washing her hands
after a field trip to the Somme,
to the graveyards.
The black ink of school text books
shouts out the reasons
while rows of white stones whisper
...aged seventeen.
She is rinsing her hands, her face,
flutters of moths are still clinging -
I must close the window.
Janice Fixter lives in South London and is a postgraduate at Sussex University. She writes books on parenting but prefers to write poetry. Her poems have appeared in a variety of publications.
Page(s) 101
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- Angel Exhaust
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- Chroma
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- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
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- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The