The Spellbook of Fruit and Flowers

<p><span style=color: rgba(103 78 167 1)>The capricious world of relationships is something everyone has navigated often wishing for a magic spell to release them from its hold. In </span><em style=color: rgba(103 78 167 1)>The Spellbook of Fruit and Flowers</em><span style=color: rgba(103 78 167 1)> Christine Butterworth-McDermott delves into these dark partnerings using the symbolism of the natural world particularly plants and their taxonomy as metaphor. With references to myth and legend science and history these poems trace the dangers that arise from seduction betrayal and the need to find pulp over pit. Here snakes slither pomegranates are bitten and forests burn. Yet there is also a determination to embrace the resilience of flesh and spirit. Tethered birds are freed dahlias mean to survive and restorative limes are offered. While never shying away from trauma and its effects Butterworth-McDermott always encourages the reader to blink at the new leaf the green wood /visible beneath the bark of the vine. While the world may be full of poison the poems here are a salve.</span></p>