To read / 16 August 2022

Selected variations for bees

Poetry

honey-dribbled
symmetry up-time;
of electric silhouettes
of selected variations

motion-uncaged
aviation sun-lit;
of swoop turns
of blown landings

orbit-driven
dance drum-toned;
of eclipsed gaps
of fuzzy signifiers

close-glided
thistle wing-twisted;
of flecked apparitions
of flower shortcuts

wind-lined
cusp song-stretched;
of flinch spindles
of southerly clusters

sun-leaped
beryl syrup-smacked;
of mottled pirouettes
of balmy straws

blossom-lined
gush fluid-hedged;
of specked upshots
of greenly ponds

light-sparsed
pollen cross-tossed;
of scented scores
of unclouded torpids

inner-concave
fiddle croak-lengthed;
of sudsy flashes
of pollen confetti

salt-laden
break day-sledged;
of oddly spells 
of stitched dulses

ray-sparsed
topple leg-drawn;
of possible futures
of uncurled tendrils

waddle-wrapped
hour plague-green;
of mulched lichens
of quenched rockroses

wimble-wamble
droop up-side;
of bumbled wrigglers
of pegged dancers

gust-welded
guck foam-poised;
of glumly sage
of longing redemption

ruddy-rusted
nether sulk-spoiled;
of sullenly manners
of dourly offerings

fog-washed
spume fever-fizzed;
of forgotten corners
of lethal topsoils

necro-fabled
queenly veil-squalled;
of guttered leafness
of urchin leaden

heat-washed
hollow spin-lapped;
of quilted choruses
of perished weight

lute-bodied
flame pall-dressed;
of quiet burials
of spruced cataclysms

loss-pleated
mites rive-strudded;
of glumly rocks
of darkly forsythias

Author

Astra Papachristodoulou

Astra Papachristodoulou is a PhD researcher and tutor at the University of Surrey with focus on sculptural poetics in the Anthropocene. Her debut poetry collection Constellations was published in 2022 with Guillemot Press. Astra is the founder of Poem Atlas, an exhibition platform and publisher of visual poetry, and her work has been exhibited in a range of venues including The National Poetry Library, Christie’s and Kew Gardens.