Forest Poem by Anthony Dalby

Shrouded in this green carapace
Of parchment leaves
Drenched with the soaking of summer rains
Countless rivulets soaking into the crevices of the earth

The coupling

Opened thighs bleached naked on the emerald moss
Glowing porcelain in the half light
Entwined

Claws dig to scrape the dirt along his flanks
Forcing his way inside the female earth
Between the roots, the worms, the litter of eons
Secreted under the groin of the oaks roots
The fetid musk of feral homeliness

The she fox cries for her mate
The smell of damp air on pelt

The still soft sleep of rain falling down through translucent leaves