Fearsome Together
Frances Boyle‘s Magpie-winning poem, ‘Another True Account of the Nature of Grit and How It May Be Ascertained’, wowed our final judge, Renée Sarojini Saklikar.
Of this topnotch piece, which appears in Issue 32, Renée told us, ‘It’s the voice of a strong female lead that won it. Plus: skilled handling of line breaks and stanza construction, ensuring the imaginative narrative flowed easily. … The poem performs as narrative ballad, historical revue, and radio play. What a rattling great read!‘
We are delighted to share with you another of Frances’s evocative poems featuring a ‘strong female lead‘: ‘Boudica’s Gifts’, which she has kindly gifted us here. Originally published by Wine Cellar Press in October 2020, it is forthcoming in her new collection, Openwork and Limestone.
About this new piece, Frances tells us, ‘Like ‘Another True Account….’, this is a persona poem but with rather a different persona! I’ve long been fascinated by the history of the Celtic warrior queen, Boudica (also known as Boadicea, the name the Romans gave her) who, flanked by her equally fierce daughters, led their people the Iceni against the Roman invaders in Britain in the first century AD. This poem … is one of two Boudica poems that will be part of my next collection, Openwork and Limestone. In this one, I’ve taken on Boudica’s voice, while the other is from the point of view of one of the daughters.‘
Boudica’s Gifts
by Frances Boyle
They are animals. I feel no sorrow
at their wails: imported noble ladies, soldiers
turned farmers. Their gods abandon them.
I give you war, daughters
I give you vengeance.
For your birthright, lost by a father’s weakness.
For stripes laid on my flesh. For crueler
wounds I felt as you, young girls still, were taken,
then discarded by foul conquerors.
Their false victory of carved stone
crashes to the ground in fear of my wrath
Visions stroll their cities, built on land stolen
from our neighbours. We’ve slain multitudes,
muddied the packed earth with their blood
I give you strength. Fearsome together, we three,
our yells, knives on our wheels, chill their hearts.
The enemy legion takes its final stand, woods
at their backs. Our only approach—straight
into their swords. We do not prevail.
Take this and drink, daughters. We
are not defeated.
To read ‘Another True Account of the Nature of Grit and How It May Be Ascertained’, and for more from Issue 32, visit our bookstore!
And for your chance to appear in the pages of Pulp and on the blog, enter the Bumblebee Flash Fiction Contest, open now until February 15th!
Frances Boyle juggles poetry and prose. Her newest poetry book is Openwork and Limestone, forthcoming in fall 2022 with Frontenac House Press. In addition to two earlier poetry collections, she has also written Tower, a Rapunzel-channeling novella (Fish Gotta Swim Editions, 2018) and Seeking Shade, a short story collection that was a first-place winner in The
Miramichi Reader’s Very Best! Awards, and a finalist for the ReLit and Danuta Gleed awards (The Porcupine’s Quill, 2020). Her poem ‘Pegging Out Washing’ was selected for inclusion in Best Canadian Poetry 2020, and her writing has been published throughout Canada and internationally. Frances’s work appears, or is forthcoming with Blackbird, EX/POST Magazine, The New Quarterly, QWERTY, Madrigalfiction, Paris Lit Up, Bandit Fiction, Echolocation, and elsewhere. Originally from the prairies, Frances now lives on unceded, unsurrendered Algonquin Anishinaabe territory, colonially known as Ottawa. Visit her website, or connect with Francis on Twitter or Instagram. And check out her recent reading and interview at Junction Reads!
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