A German-born UK national, Rose Mary Boehm lives and works in Lima, Peru. Author of Tangents, a full-length poetry collection published in the UK in 2010/2011, her work has been widely published in US poetry journals (online and print). Recent poetry collections: From the Ruhr to Somewhere Near Dresden 1939-1949: A Child’s Journey and Peru Blues or Lady Gaga Won’t Be Back. Her latest full-length poetry MS, The Rain Girl, has been accepted for publication in June 2020 by Blue Nib.

When the dog’s front half disappeared

under a heap of soggy leaves, I kicked

away that mix of rotting vegetable matter

and saw it. Man, I smelled it. It made

curious humming noises and something like

the sound bubbles make when they burst.

Decomposition, they call it. When the dog

had calmed, we just stood there under the giant

ferns. From the nearest kapok hung a termite

nest like a tumorous growth as large as a backpack.

Flesh had again become part of the earth. No CSI

in Amazonia, no cell phone connection, no 911.

Man or beast, who cares.

Just matter to be reabsorbed.