Nettles
By Sarah Windebank
A spangle of jade fronds stings my hands
when, tramping over barren ground, I gather
lightweight ferns, that shift like things windborne.
They are a green invading force that overwhelms
cast-off cans, glass jars and old sacks,
returning the earth to its origins.From a micro worm’s view basal leaves gleam
ochre from loam, the upper tips striped malachite,
struck with sunlight — but from my ambling
bird’s-eye view,
I see a verdant, tropical sheen and a green
cathedral roof.Stippled with stinging hairs
that prick the nerves and pink the veins,
it’ll take a heft of dock to cool my skin.I boil them and create a wilt of steam,
and make a soup, as good as spinach
to replenish and renew me, though a vagrant meal.A POETIC PAUSE
About the author
Poet Sarah Windebank was brought up by her Swedish
grandmother until she was 16 years old. Her debut collection
explores her relationship with those roots, the language that her
mother and granny spoke and which she picked up in “glittering
fragments, rather like a magpie” and the domestic details of their
shared lives. Taken from Memories of a Swedish Grandmother
by Sarah Windebank (Myriad, Spotlight)Fancy making your own nettle soup? Handily, we’ve got a recipe on page 87. 49Nettles
By Sarah Windebank
A spangle of jade fronds stings my hands
when, tramping over barren ground, I gatherlightweight ferns, that shift like things windborne.
They are a green invading force that overwhelms
cast-off cans, glass jars and old sacks,
returning the earth to its origins.From a micro worm’s view basal leaves gleam
ochre from loam, the upper tips striped malachite,
struck with sunlight — but from my ambling
bird’s-eye view,
I see a verdant, tropical sheen and a green
cathedral roof.Stippled with stinging hairs
that prick the nerves and pink the veins,
it’ll take a heft of dock to cool my skin.I boil them and create a wilt of steam,
and make a soup, as good as spinach
to replenish and renew me, though a vagrant meal.A POETIC PAUSE
About the author
Poet Sarah Windebank was brought up by her Swedish
grandmother until she was 16 years old. Her debut collection
explores her relationship with those roots, the language that her
mother and granny spoke and which she picked up in “glittering
fragments, rather like a magpie” and the domestic details of their
shared lives. Taken from Memories of a Swedish Grandmother
by Sarah Windebank (Myriad, Spotlight)Fancy making your own nettle soup? Handily, we’ve got a recipe on page 87. 49