ROOTS

the madrigal, volume ii

Seaweed Cure

by annette skade

Pick over the carrageen for small stones,

parts of shell, then steep. Simmer until

the surrounding liquid thickens to jelly.

Strain, add honey, lemon juice to taste.

Drink. Feel the silky mixture coat

raw windpipe, soreness deep in lungs.

Let this possibility slip down: to

survive these waters, you don’t need

roots pushing deep into layers of seabed,

you can open to rain-washed sky, anchored

only by your own two feet, holding fast

to the scrap of ground beneath them.

Annette Skade lives on Ireland’s Atlantic coast. Her poems are published in Ireland, the U.K., the U.S. and Australia, and her collection Thimblerig was published in 2013 on foot of winning the Cork Literary Review Manuscript Competition. She has just completed a doctorate on the poetry of Anne Carson. She thinks a lot about roots, rhizomes and being at sea. For more information about her poetry please see http://annetteskade.com/about/