A Depiction of a Spurned Lover

by Ragnheiður Erla Björnsdóttir

he showed up at my door
holding a lullaby in his paw

a gorgeous beast raised
by fathers blue ties gold pins

his sick lungs strangled
he coughed blood on my groin

nailed a surgical mask
to my bathroom wall

he poured salt in my bath
for a healing

I boiled him jelly
from moss

a quarter hour
in a pint of milk

a glass bowlful
of my bare scalp. 

Translated by Meg Matich.