This poem is taken from PN Review 264, Volume 48 Number 4, March - April 2022.

The Circle and other poems

Jane Draycott
The Circle

In the circle one of the girls said
before this I was an accountant
and a vase
                  and we knew
what she meant – something like
a multi-purpose function room
or how in a buffeting wind
                      a tree is also
a ritual lion-dance performance.

The facilitator replied so let’s
consider the relationship between a piece
      of pottery and the maternal womb

but the girl said no that’s not it
more like isn’t that amazing
          to be two things at once

like in the middle ages when bread
on the tongue was also the body
              and wine was the blood
and no fuss was made

because though you can count
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