About the Column: 

Poems of Our Climate is a weekly poetry column run by Sofia Baluyut ’23. The column was founded by Oliver Egger ’23 as a part of the Route 9 Literary Collective. Submit and read past issues of The Lavender at Route9.org. If you are interested in having your poem featured in this column, please email your work directly to sbaluyut@wesleyan.edu. 

  

Ode to Beatrix Potter

languid afternoons spent spilling sunlight

liquid splinters in seconds. 

 

lavender suspends itself over an open fire. 

the red rag plump with onions, 

 

a courier trip. benjamin maybe, 

a son, sneaking out to the cucumbers. 

 

his sisters are good, they gorge themselves on blackberries

on occasion, and sing sweetly to the brambles. 

 

all from the palm shaped crinoline creations,

sweeping watercolor captures imaginations.

 

you gather all of this lying belly down in weeds. 

smelling sweetgrass, sorrow tastes like torn pages,

 

delicate rejections from booksellers. lace 

trims the edges of childrens’ dresses,

 

her flaxlike hair becomes Jemima the goose, 

his waistcoat Mr. Samuel Whiskers, 

 

Tom Kitten in his navy coat and brass buttons

mewling in an attic, 

 

serenades me to sleep. 

I could spend days,

 

inhaling dandelion afternoons,

drenched in honeysuckle rain:

 

a soporific dream,

authored by you. 

 

About the Poet: 

Amanda Ding calls many places home, most of all Singapore. Her words flow into poetry and stories about hot soup, cold mango sago, and hearts that wane and wax like the moon. She enjoys sad songs, hedgehogs, and enemies-to-lovers romances, and is always down for karaoke.