Grant Tarbard

NETTLE SOUP

Listen to Audio Version.

This barbed wire looks like
Thorny nettles, if you
Look closely you will
See maps of barns, schools,
Churches; any place

Still smouldering. You
Would eat nettle soup
And dandelion
Patchwork pâté, this
Diet grim, dead eyed

Gaping mouthed hunger.
Those barbs look like a
Needle prick, rust like
Crucifixion nails
Hung from the Judas

Belly tree. A blood
Omelette fills up
Deserted innards,
A lamb sacrificed
In honour of our

Distended bellies.
This barbed wire looks like
A virus. Under
Nettles I'll make my bed,
Under starving wounds.

Grant Tarbard writes in his dog's home. His first pamphlet Yellow Wolf is out now from WK Press. He is widely published. Twitter: @GrantTarbard