Gabriella Brand

I’m fascinated by insects. Whenever I see a call for poetry or short stories related to bugs, I can’t resist. (q.v. Six Legs in Tokyo found under FICTION on this webpage).

The British journal “Alchemy Spoon”, accepted my poem “In the Fold” about a possible insect hiding in the bed sheets. Clayhanger Press held an international Zoom launch of the issue where one could listen to lots of poetry about, yes, creepy crawlies, Palestine, war, love, loss and life. Attendees came from the Congo, Italy, and all over the British Isles.

Read my poem below:

In the Fold

She’s wearing dark glasses in all the photos from the honeymoon.

A week before, while sleeping in the arms of a former lover,

not the man she was about to marry,

she was bitten in the fold of her left eye

by a spider or perhaps one of the bedbugs

that sneak between the sheets of New York hotels.

She woke up with a swollen face, her eye all puffy pink like a sow’s teat.

When she boarded the plane for Geneva the flight attendant noticed

and suggested covering the eyelid with a warm tea bag

which didn’t accomplish much.

The next morning, when the plane began its descent over Calvin’s city,

her vision was so messed up she could

hardly make out the contours of Lac Léman.

Was she being punished for her transgression?

The rest of the trip proceeded apace, as they say,

which meant lots of consultations with médecins and Apotheker

and very little diversion.

The new husband didn’t exactly sulk, but he hardly smiled.

The eye cleared when they returned home.

Years later, she considered her temporary blindness

as a metaphor for her behavior,

but by then, the marriage was long over

and she had absolved herself of sin.