Spring 2023 Featured Work – Jude Rosen

Jude Rosen

Still Life in The New Year
 

Let go of merciful attributes
And halt any forgiveness
Let pomegranate branches
Hang low by my roots

I don’t wish to be twined

I am bogged by sucrose film.
The one you bring to me
Delighted of apples and honey
Stolen from depths heavy like heart beat

I don’t wish to indulge

in blessings but in vestiges.
In sour-dough gobs on my tongue
Too defiant to swallow
So instead I hold it in my throat

I don’t wish to be relieved

from what I have lost.
I reject what sweetness is brought
I don’t believe honey is a remedy for sin
When ants follow close behind
Trapping themselves in their own fulfilment
Drowning in their own transgression

I do not              Wish or

                            Want or

                            Hope

I am                  Fulfilled and

                          Satisfied and

                          Gutted