We Make Our Own Beetroot by Maeve McKenna

A jar of beetroot, given in kindness

by a friend, has wintered

in a kitchen press for three years.

When I take it down, settled redness

rushes through the jar like old times,

and pieces of root roam, then settle.

Occasionally, I tip it sideways

to watch a thin film of water discolour

like thoughts. I’ve seen this, I think,

in scientific studies of smiling. Once,

the vacuum seal leaked a tincture

of blood-red juice onto my hand. I rubbed

it away instantly, that stain. Placing

the flawed jar back inside the cupboard,

I’m sure it was then I broke another nail.

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Maeve McKenna lives among trees in rural Ireland. Her writing has been placed in several international competitions, published in Mslexia, Culture Matters, Orbis, Ofi Press, Fly On The Wall and many others. Her poetry is published widely online. She was a finalist in the Eavan Boland Mentoring Award, 2021, and has work forthcoming in Channel Magazine, Marble Poetry and Black Bough Poetry. Only the trees know Maeve is working towards her first collection of poetry.