New Poetry by Jane Downing

Black Forest

The road is lined with
carnivorous trees
the kind that beckon you
in deeper
amongst their kin
promising fairy tales
delivering nightmares

It rides the line
through the forest up
onto a snowy ridge, a ramping
sweep around a bend
beyond the reach of witches

Where you are in full view
of the horizon

Those who go into the forest
seldom come out
unchanged:
the Grimm heroines who
may or may not be content
with their rewards – us
parked with other metal steeds
on the gravel drive
engines ticking down
to rest

Let loose from the car
the curse is put on ice

Gluhwein is served in mugs
thrown on a potter’s wheel
It warms welcome
hints at cloves
a smell memory of kretek
cigarettes there’s no time to
excavate


- © Jane Downing 2020

Jane Downing has poems published around Australia including in Cordite, Rabbit, The Canberra Times, Eureka Street and Best Australian Poems (2004 & 2015). A collection, ‘When Figs Fly,’ was published by Close-Up Books in 2019. She can be found at janedowning.wordpress.com