{"id":904,"date":"2015-03-16T10:15:49","date_gmt":"2015-03-16T17:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/?p=904"},"modified":"2015-03-14T10:20:09","modified_gmt":"2015-03-14T17:20:09","slug":"the-bursting-season-by-bogi-takacs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/?p=904","title":{"rendered":"The Bursting Season by Bogi Tak\u00c3\u00a1cs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\""PikiWiki<\/a>

“PikiWiki Israel 12326 Plants of Israel” by \u00d7\u00a6\u00d7\u2122\u00d7\u0153\u00d7\u2022\u00d7\u009d: \u00d7\u0090\u00d7\u2022\u00d7\u00a8\u00d7\u0178 \u00d7\u00a4\u00d7\u0153\u00d7\u00a1, Oren Peles. Licensed under CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons – http:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:PikiWiki_Israel_12326_Plants_of_Israel.jpg#\/media\/File:PikiWiki_Israel_12326_Plants_of_Israel.jpg<\/p><\/div>\n

Their barbed-wire brambles cutting into your skin,
\nthey hold you tight as you heave and gasp for air.
\nA guardian brushes away the sweat on your forehead,
\nhis fingertips soft and round like acacia leaves,
\nleaving rubbings of soil grains against your skin.<\/p>\n

The flowers can start to erupt any time now \u00e2\u20ac\u201c
\nyou can feel their stems coiled in your throat
\nlike a tickling, disconcerting promise of the future,
\nsoft springs wound up and crickets clicking time.
\nSmall insects move in your stomach and heart.<\/p>\n

A weeping willow cries out the signal to begin
\nand the guardians press you down on your knees,
\nthe undergrowth catching your calves, attaching \u00e2\u20ac\u201c
\nlike to the like, kin to kin. You can feel the forest
\nspread into you as your breath pushes out.<\/p>\n

You shudder more with promise than with pain,
\nand \u00e2\u20ac\u201c eyes closed \u00e2\u20ac\u201c you miss the first glance
\nbut hear the appreciating hisses from the trees.
\nYou do not need to see flowers to recognize them
\nfrom the touch they leave behind on your palate.<\/p>\n

White flowers unfold from between your lips
\nand green stalks strain outward. This plant you like,
\nmore than the complacent oats and sunflowers,
\nwell-rounded fluffy marigolds and dusky roses.
\nIt emerges from you and eats you from the outside.<\/p>\n

Morning glory. Ololi\u00c3\u00baqui. The Christmas vine.
\nXtabent\u00c3\u00ban. Turbina corymbosa. Many names
\nbut only one sensation. The vines will invade,
\nbreaking your skin, turning calmly on you,
\ntheir root and singular life-source. Their parent.<\/p>\n

You cannot scream, only whimper and gasp \u00e2\u20ac\u201c
\nthere is no room for sound except in your thoughts.
\nThe guardians lower your body onto a rough bed
\nof weeds and decay. You cannot move any further.
\nInsects crowd out your nose and take to the treetops.<\/p>\n

Rain patters on you softly, tree-branches opening
\nto the night sky, allowing you peace and rest.
\nYour mouth is sweet with nectar and ambrosia
\nand you smile as tears wash over your face.
\nThe bursting season will soon arrive again.<\/p>\n

Bogi Tak\u00c3\u00a1cs<\/a> is a neutrally gendered<\/em>
\n Hungarian Jewish person who’s recently moved to the US. Eir speculative<\/em>
\n fiction and poetry has been published in venues like Strange
\nHorizons<\/a>, Apex<\/a>,<\/em>
\n Scigentasy<\/a> and GigaNotoSaurus<\/a>. You can visit eir website<\/a> or find em on Twitter<\/a>, where e runs a semi-daily recommendation series for #diversestories and #diversepoems.<\/em><\/p>\n

Payment for this poem was donated to Keshet<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Their barbed-wire brambles cutting into your skin, they hold you tight as you heave and gasp for air. A guardian brushes away the sweat on your forehead, his fingertips soft and round like acacia leaves, leaving rubbings of soil grains against your skin. The flowers can start to erupt any time now \u00e2\u20ac\u201c you can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=904"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":908,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904\/revisions\/908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}