boletaires

& here comes Peret
freshly shaven but with
something in his eye.
& here comes Martina
breathing deeply
& laughing easy.
they step into el bosc
de Meranges, their mountain
boots sinking slightly
on the earth, crushing
branquetes, stepping
on stones that massage
the arch of their feet.
it olora the way the woods
smell in this valley. mugo
pines, mosses, sun-struck
soil. Martina likes touching
the bark with her fingertips,
feeling the ants move hurriedly
around them. Peret likes listening
to rierols, imagining he can breathe
water i l’aigua clears his lungs. nem
al tanto, he says, look out for ceps.
she picks up la cistella & grasps
its handle strong, her eyes sparkly
like the sun-licked stream
her grandpa loves. she says: avi,
when I grow up
I want to be
an artist.

Laia Sales Merino is from the Pyrenees. She is currently a student of the MA in Creative Writing (Poetry) at the University of East Anglia. In her poetry, the English language often coexists with Catalan (her mother tongue), Spanish and any other language that has been on her mind (recently, Portuguese).