‘Materia Medica’ by Bernadette McAloon Unnoticed all summer at the back of the bordercohosh, bugbane, snakeroot, late bloomer:a grandmother’s essence in a plume of cimicifuga. She speaks of puerperal mania, uterine disorder a bald indifference to those who love her bestof the arms that would encage her, hatredof corsetry, an insatiable desire to wander. * My othered grandmother is cut from the root of wild indigo. The essence of baptisia confusashe’s mottled, besotted, impossible to follow. She feels separated, can’t fit the piecesof herself together, hears her limbs call outto one another; suggestive of tuberculartaint, delirium tremens, death by septic fever. About the Author Bernadette McAloon is the recipient of a Basil Bunting Award and the Flambard Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared in various magazines and anthologies including, Butcher’s Dog Magazine, Mslexia Magazine, The Rialto, and Land of Three Rivers anthology (Bloodaxe). Her debut pamphlet A Queen of Rare Mutations is published by Blueprint Poetry Press. Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Like this:Like Loading... Published by fragmentedvoices A small, independent press based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, and Prague, the Czech Republic View all posts by fragmentedvoices