Garden Physic

In her medieval-inspired sixth book, Legris (The Hideous Hidden) offers the reader a “physic” in its archaic sense, as remedies for ailments: “Sea urchin for ulcers./ Hedgehog for convulsions./ Sea horse with goose grease for baldness.” The book’s main section is modelled on the masterwork of first-century CE Greek surgeon Pedanius Dioscorides, whose De materia medica illustrated the pharmacological uses of hundreds of plants. Appendices, a bibliography, and an index complete this poetic volume, which is at once “a catalogue, a desire, a wish.” Stylized patterns of meter, rhyme, and alliteration cast their spells: “Burn the bark, scrape the dust from the wood./ Bitter berries expel bitter wind./ Oil of juniper remedies viper bite./ Spirit of juniper restores sore sight.” Legris wants the reader to see “A metrical line from plant to poet to the god of physicians.” Addressing a beloved in the persona of Vita Sackville-West, she asks, “How to write about flowers without the nauseating sentimental phraseology? This smells good, that smells bad, my hands rank with manure. This at least is pure.” Bookish gardeners will delight in this playful modern-day florilegium. (Nov.)