A woman picking blackberries

         A woman picking blackberries

        her dress is drawn tight about her waist

        with a long sash the new colour of her hands

        bruised the fresh colour of her lips

        and taste of purple wine thick berry juice.

        Long wands

        of sharp prickly canes

        catch at a cotton frock

        sting at her face.

        Dusk buries fruit deeper

        in the palette of the dark

        the shock of thorns and time.

        Her full bucket brims with the shiny night

        the last of yellow

        winter afternoon strains from the thicket

        towards the ending of her work.

        Mallow and dock a soft tangle at her feet

        a woman held in painted stillness could

        be only yesterday

my mother out from our childhood.

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.