gossip from the forest

by Kay Burrows

Last year I learned the difference between a forest and a woodland.

Forests are hunting grounds; ancient rites and rhythms.

Did you hear that she is home?

The moon is high and our eyes 

deal only in black and white.

You skip after silhouettes while I scatter a breadcrumb trail.

Magpies roost with shiny things

and fairy rings spring around my heavy feet.

Word travels fast in here. 

The news is pressing

on my chest and echoes are compressed.

Was she forced to confess?

I gulp and try to think of home

of silver jewelry and fairy lights and not only of the way you skewered 

marshmallows and licked

them clean off the stick, splinters in your tongue. I begged

you not to eat in the forest.

Didn’t you hear that she is home?

Kay Burrows is a scientist, musician, writer, and runner. She lives in the North of England and loves being outside, whatever the weather!