Bex Hainsworth
The Olive Tree of Vouves
Mammoth contemporary, she has been fruiting
for four thousand years. Branches twist
into minotaur horns, rising from a hollow
labyrinth of roots. The vast trunk is bulbous,
beautiful; rippled bark tenses like a muscle
in the calf of a crouching titan.
She is a monument, outlasting empires
and human heartache, a weathered ark
resisting drought and fire and flood.
Every year, twigs plump like knuckles
with olives, green currency, ready
to anoint kings and restaurant crockery.
Her crown is cornucopia, world basket,
reaching upwards like Daphne’s arms,
dwindling to wreaths. Her heartwood
has worn away but, pulseless, she persists.
Bex Hainsworth is a poet and teacher based in Leicester, UK. Her work has appeared in The Rialto, Honest Ulsterman, bath magg, and Poetry Wales. She is the author of two pamphlets: Walrussey (The Black Cat Poetry Press, 2023) and Circulaire (Written Off Publishing, 2025).