Tessa Berring is an artist and writer based in Scotland. She recently completed a written research project on narrative at Edinburgh College of Art. More of her work appears, or is forthcoming, in a variety of journals and anthologies including The Rialto, Magma, Datableedzine, Rabbit Catastrophe Review, and Sidekick Books. Her poetry sequence Paper, Dust and Donkeys was published by House of Three in 2016.
Dandelions
When they ask her to spit
in a test tube, she dribbles
like pear sorbet.
She never learned to spit
and she never forgets
a pale white sorbet
melting in a cut glass bowl.
And were there dandelions
or did she make it up?
There might have been daisies
or no flowers at all
just splinters, ice and saliva.