Seán Hewitt’s debut pamphlet is Lantern (Offord Road Books, 2019). He was a member of the Aldeburgh Eight (2015), won a Northern Writers’ Award in 2016, and won the Resurgence Prize in 2017. He lives and works in Dublin.
Events
Wild Garlic
Out in the copse after rain
(too late after dark to be here).
Warm soil, woodlice dripping
from the underside of leaves –
I root down to the tender stalks
and twist them free – soaked petals
dip and touch my arm, kernels
of bud, itch of foliage, of wildness
on my skin. The wood is carrying
the smell, earth-rich, too heavy
to lift above head-height, and my boots
and jeans are bleached with it.
I turn home, and all across the floor
the spiked white flowers
light the way. The world is dark
but the wood is full of stars.