"Ogres" from Andrew Bailey's first collection, Zeal (Enitharmon, 2012)

Here's a delightful villanelle from Andrew Bailey's first collection, Zeal. Tomorrow night he'll be reading at Topping's here in Bath, and I hope he'll include this. There is some identation in the lines I have been unable to replicate here, by the way.

OGRES

And there there is a lemon that contains

an island where they laugh so loud it hurts –

the souls of all the ogres in Ceylon

have been secreted far enough from harm

that they assume their soulless frames immortal.

But there there is a lemon that contains

the path to the secret citrus grove, wherein

assurances were made that seemed to state

the souls of all the ogres in Ceylon

would be protected. And there, too, to be found

is a blunted knife, an x-marked chart,

and there there is a lemon that contains

a lemon-scented sharpening stone

that hones the sour knife till it could halt

the souls of all the ogres in Ceylon.

And there’s that grove, that path, that laugh again.

You grip the knife, your other hand out flat,

and there there is a lemon that contains

the souls of all the ogres in Ceylon.

Andrew Bailey

In the UK, you can purchase Zeal from the publisher here.