‘Vocabulary’ by Rosamund Taylor

Perhaps I ask you too often for nouns
in Polish. It’s not just because I’m nosy:
as I’d like to see spring snow in the town
that was once yours, count buses, find dozing
toys, I want the shape of the language you
inhabited: your words for kites, soap bubbles,
for freckles and skinned knees. Through
the collection of cases, my tongue’s trouble
with soft consonants, bright vowels, I’d know
how to reach an inner you, navigating
different neurons. Or I’m greedy. Like I
want to lick inside your mouth, feel the sting
of teeth, taste your tongue, know the contours, shy
ridges, I want all your verbs, every tense, the trap
of declensions, every part of your branching map.

From issue #3: autumn/winter 2016

About the Author
Rosamund Taylor has published in many magazines, including Agenda, Magma, Orbis and The Stony Thursday Book. In 2015, she was a runner-up for the Patrick Kavanagh Award and was shortlisted for the Montreal International Poetry Prize for the second time.