Amongst the flora, wild and tangled,
Immersed in its beauty,
Blinded by its beauty,
A growling voice calls my name,
Struggling, lunging to escape the reality,
Seiged by a wave,
Gasping for one final breath,
Suffocated in the darkness,
Rising bubbles decide an awaiting fate,
The blackberry shrub implants its teeth into flesh,
Running away from a once homely land,
A deluged path of red,
Grabbed by a hand,
Infused with azalea,
Entrapped in a perspex plastic case,
My disgust disguised by posed taxidermy,
Voices crowd around me,
The blackberry teeth still gnaw at my flesh,
How can one find their peace?
When another seeks a different conclusion,
As my body lay limp and suffocated on the forest floor,
I finally possessed the end to my fight,
Observing the untouched land,
Between the branches of the white gums,
A raspy whisper confirms the victim,
The teeth of the blackberry inflict.
Words inspired by Stella Yu’s ‘Floral Invasion’ exhibition. The two pieces I found specifically inspiring were the ‘Hogsweed and Early Nancy’ and ‘Ivy, Blackberry, Flampea and Early Nancy’. View the full collection and artist's statement here.