Across stars and blood-bitten skies
     dryads
            fire nymphs
pulsate veined wings
              stirring a sultry breeze

After all
                there is quite a bit of flesh
                         one whispers as they spy
                                  the skin of earth
These hard-core sprites
                                          swoon
                             diving into orchards
                                      of swollen blossoms
             wiggling their pink toes     licking
                   maple  from  bark
                    sipping sassafras tea
                                      giggling
                  as forget-me-not petals
                                           open wide

Kathleen Strafford is a student at Trinity University in Leeds studying for her MA in creative writing.  She hopes her first collection of poetry Her Own Language will be published this coming year.  Her poems have appeared in Interpreter’s House, Butcher’s Dog, Algebra of Owls, The Fat Damsel and various anthologies.