Mint Behaviour

It crept in by the cuttings shed,
though I’m fairly sure I never said
it could.
Last week I trimmed it back —
today it brought a pack
of friends, and one’s already
flirting with the rosemary.

It’s got a way of staying put,
like Maureen from poetry —
who only meant to drop something off
but stayed for crumble, soft and hot,
and two whole episodes (and explains the plot)
of that detective show
everyone claims they’ve “heard of,” you know.

I tried to pot it once for peace,
but it staged a slow revolt —
sent runners snaking ‘round the thyme,
then sulked and drooped like boiled wool fleece.
Some things need walls.
Others just refuse
to follow rules
or wear sensible shoes.

It thrives on cracked and crooked clay,
a soggy patch of fence,
the hint of sun, a sideways glance —
not even proper evidence.
I admire that —
though it’s far more zest
than I can conjure
on days I choose to dress.

You smell it first —
a leafy lurch
through socks and sheets and bookcase spines.
I found a sprig
in my slipper this morning.
I let it stay.
It seemed to know what it was doing.
It’ll probably stay some time.

Maureen says to pinch the tips,
to keep it from its bolting tricks.
She meant the mint —
but I may try it on my thoughts,
or biscuits,
or my urge to buy more teacups.
She’s coming round next Thursday —
after poetry —
we’ll finish off that episode
and Maureen will guess whodunnit
before the last commercial
and I will try my very best
to help the kettle keeps its dignity.

She read a poem last week —
not hers, but held it like a leaf
she’d flattened in a book for weeks.
It was about absence, I think,
or maybe the sort of hush
that lingers in a coat long after
its wearer’s gone.
Nobody reached for their tea too fast.
I counted that as praise that lasts.

And yet the mint’s back up today,
pushing through in its usual way —
bold as brass and twice as green,
sprouting through the washing line scene.
So I snipped a sprig,
tucked it near my ear,
told Maureen she should come back soon.
I’ve worked out who the killer is, dear.

• Mint Behaviour by Jay Rose Ana