BRIONY HUGHES

pint 1: soy                    all plant triggers the reflex

                                   arch to spout any froth or foam

                                   entering this pint glass

                                   a thickness lines the teeth

                                   there must be a throat

                                   rearing the next swallow

                                   not choreographed not rhythmic

                                   just miming her dietary intervention

                                   this is the first pint of five

                                   [tidal] intervals emptying her outline

pint 2: oat                 my bloods will run creamy – thick

                                   [a possibility increasing over 14 days]

                                   watch the duct sting as white film layers her iris

                                   [rub this away in sleep]

                                   press torso into mattress and reconsider the worth of your pain

interval                     rinse and repeat

                                   until lips           flickering

                                   enter a new site

                                   consider a density

                                   [at the bottom of your glass]

pint 3: almond          not as I remembered

                                   notes of soil

                                   a scratch to the throat

                                   ask yourself:

                                   the question will

                                   always be sugar coated          [but as for the almonds]

                                                                                        not flavoured in imitation

                                                                                        not sustainable water use

interval                      roof of mouth as metallic

                                   the tongue pitter-patters

                                   an episode of dehydration

                                             [excrete and breathe]

                                   from one body to another

pint 4: rice                 consider water tension

                                   of the stomach          knotting

                                             as you take a midday shower

                                   these shards

                                   [or clear ants scuttle]

                                   redacted into the thousands

                                   sweet sickens the palate

                                   avoid sickness

pint 5: cow                heave further as body mass

                                   or take a nap

                                   [a commitment is necessary]

                                             formed from grass or hay

                                   flanking as restlessness

                                   this tributary waits 

is a poet, visiting tutor, and AHRC funded doctoral researcher based at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her publications include Dorothy (Broken Sleep Books) and Microsporidial (Sampson Low). She is a co-founder of the Crested Tit Collective (2018 – 2020), and established Osmosis Press in January 2021.

Milk was written following a short stay in hospital. This excerpt reflects on the liquid diet the author was placed on prior to surgery: five pints of milk a day, for a fortnight. Milk reflects on the experience as a form of embodied research, wherein the boundaries are pushed between the body and its intimacy with liquids.