Rose Hips and Thistles - by
It’s been a long Indian summer / and the hips are rotting on the beach rose. / I can almost…
fruit
Autumn Compensations - by
Books in cosy littered room ,
Feet in slippered ease,
Silver candles in the gloom,
Stars in naked trees
Inna Calabash - by
Inna calabash
tell them that the baby
that count in them census already
Inna calabash
The Song of Wandering Aengus - by
I went out to the hazel wood, / Because a fire was in my head, / And cut and peeled…
Street Market - by
Here, under the awning of cotton,
/ Tomatoes are heaped in a flare
/ Of glossy red beauty, and rotten
/ Sick-sweet smells of fruit fill…
Trees - by
You hold the sapling straight, backfill,
/ heel it in. A rainbow
/ pours from the watering can.
For Bet Gaitherin Strawberries - by
The rain was sliverin on the windae pane
/ when you gaed oot tae pick strawberries,
/ reid pockit moons, for the denner…
Flying-Fox - by
More rat than bird,
/ more superstition than fox,
/ you hang from that banyan
/ branch like a deflated black
/ umbrella and, when you flap
/ through the…
French Horn - by
For a few days only,
the plum tree outside the window
shoulders perfection.
No matter the plums will be small,
eaten only by squirrels and jays.
Selling Watermelons - by
Moscow is milling with watermelons.
/ Everything breathes a boundless freedom.
/ And it blows with unbridled fierceness
/ from the breathless melonvendors.
/
/ Stalls. Din. Girls’ headscarves.
/ They…
from The Wee Raggit Laddie to the Laird of Blackford Hill - by
Stout Laird o’ Blackford Hill, let me
/ But gain your honour’s lug a wee,
/ I fain wad let your lairdship see
/ …
North Coast Cherries - by
for Elizabeth, my wife
/ three linked haikus
/
/ All around salt in the wind
/ a mile from the sea
/ salt on the tongue
/
/ Against the wall…