consume

like flowers: like the soft wet mouth
          of a bloom: like a noxious weed
weeping onion spit into your hand: like
          an overgrown puffball screaming out
its last, sad, spore-filled breath: like
          a cat clamping down on blue-green
tail feathers: a stoat feasting on the delicate
          orange of a native egg: yolk spilling out
all over its fur: congealing: like a fly bloated
          with sugar: like the sweet chamomile plant
swimming with ants: when we soaked it in
          water we were so shocked: at all the tiny
aphids and spiders that bloomed there: when
          we drank the tea we couldn’t help but
think of the eggs we crushed: baby spiders:
          killed for our soothing: but we had no reason
to be shocked, really: not at such abundance

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Cadence Chung is a poet, student, composer, and musician from Te-Whanganui-a-Tara, currently studying at the New Zealand School of Music. Her debut poetry book anomalia was published in April 2022 with Tender Press. She can be found weeping in antique stores.