Gentian
Gentiana Acaulis
“Used in all female weaknesses”
You nursed my childhood with tinctures
bled from soft plicae, cured colic, cauterized
cankers, restored appetite and laughter.
Still, I never would have remembered you,
gentian blue, if on the fourth day my nipples hadn’t
given in, one crack at a time, if by the sixth night
I hadn’t lain there creviced, undone.
The silver-haired pharmacist opened his fist
into my palm. “I knew someone would come for it.
It’s been discontinued for years.”
To you I owe the first drop of milk,
my son’s unparching lips, so this is for you,
Dear Unprescribéd.
Mihaela Moscaliuc’s most recent poetry collections are Cemetery Ink (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2021) and Immigrant Model (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015). Read more.
“Gentian” was previously publish in Father Dirt, Alice James Books, 2010.