Blodeuwedd Poem by Giles Watson

Out of the slurry of vascular tissue:
xylem and phloem, leaf veins, stomates
and the fleshy organs of flowers, she
took form. Her irises were a coalescence
of anthers; her tongue forged of pistils
and stamens. She was conjured fully grown,
lissom, wilful, with a laugh like petals
falling. There was still a slick glaze
of nectar about her lips when he tried
to kiss her, and she turned her cheek:
a honeyed smear of repulsion. That's when
the talons erupted. Her pupils became
inked-up orchids, and from her moon-face
the raptor-hook bloomed like gorse.