The Serbo-Croatian language uses the same word, čičak, for burdock and Velcro by Sonya Vatomsky

The Serbo-Croatian language uses the same word,

čičak, for burdock and Velcro

Sonya Vatomsky

1 cup grain alcohol strong enough to blind you,
make you forget your first love, turn gills to lungs
or vice versa.
5 tablespoons burdock root — I know an herbalist
who sells in bulk, and that’s precisely
the kind of ally you need these days; forget
the friends with their ears and tenderness
and
stockpile
some
bittering agents —
and cardamom pods,
fennel seeds,
something sweet and dried (figs?) and
1 tablespoon honey dissolved in 2 teaspoons of hot water.
Store in a cold, dry place
until you have one
that isn’t.

Sonya Vatomsky is a Moscow-born, Seattle-raised feminist poet and essayist whose work appears in No Tokens, VIDA, Hermeneutic Chaos, Bone Bouquet, and elsewhere. She edits and reviews poetry at Fruita Pulp & her chapbook MY HEART IN ASPIC is part of Porkbelly Press' 2015 line-up. Find her online at sonyavatomsky.tumblr.com and @coolniceghost.

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