Hélène Demetriades: a poem

Minotaur Beetle

Typhaeus typhoeus

Black scarab jewel

noseying November leaf litter:

you tip over with a cargo

of pink podded mites

latched on to your belly,

a split fig.

Ridged thumb nail,

shrieking at high frequency

weighed down by stowaways.

I think of you – tiller,

quarrying single nest chambers

from a spinal corridor,

gifting each of your progeny

a dung marble

before sealing your nurseries

with a plug of clay.

Legs writhing like a baby's

you rock yourself back on your feet

and scurry for fresh muck.

Hélène is a practising psychotherapist and poet living in South Devon. She was joint winner of the Hedgehog Press Full Fat Poetry Collection competition 2020, and her debut collection The Plumb Line was published in 2022. She is the winner of the Silver Wyvern, Poetry On The Lake Competition, 2022. Her poetry can be found in numerous magazines and webzines.