A gum tree in the rain

        A gum tree in the rain.

        Volatile vapours

        from countless crescent leaves,

        small hung moons of transpiration

        swamp the paddock with the sudden scent

        of green wet unripe lemons.

        Motion of the tree

        grows out of its own rain-dimpled negative

        blurred mirror of mendacity.

        A struggle between what is real and fancied

        that copy each other out in an infinity

        of windblown shadows and cold.

        Now evening shuts beneath a magpie’s wing

        the possum’s eye mimics soft wet bark.

        There is nothing now

        beyond this slow wet fountain

        of wood and leaves squeezed out of lines

        drawn on this morning’s map

        where rain falls on the rain.

These poems are from my new collection IN THE APRICOT DARKNESS (view the cover and contents below in my recent posts). They are now being published individually, daily under 'recent posts' on my blog and will be available shortly as an eBook that can be read online or downloaded for free.