Ritual – Jonathan Totman

Ritual

Need more, you say,
as we slosh our way
back and forth across the crazy paving,

seeing to our family of pots,
new shoots reaching like language
from their open mouths.

You’re right, they’re thirsty,
water trickling
through their fine compost,

leaking from their hidden holes,
the woodlouse caves at their base.
It’s the muck they hang on to:

cat shit, petals,
our too-tough bits of veg
blended up by the worms.

Daily, this ritual:
the three-handed hoist of the can,
the spray bouncing off your hand,

compelled to feel,
the pooling at your feet
and the going back for more.

Jonathan’s pamphlet ‘Explosives Licence’ was a winner in Templar Poetry’s 2018 IOTA Shot competition. His first collection will be published by Pindrop Press in 2020.