Chairs have been brought in

        Chairs have been brought in

        from the garden long ago

        none now are left

        the white wood arms and a peeling away

        we would never be used to

        gone to fire and bin.

        Ten years past I noticed worm in the plum

        winter in an early darkness then

        it should not have walked with us this far

        rustling cold leaves

        lain around in yellow heaps – undone.

        Then how we lapsed into its easy store

        of summer shadows

        this year on its boughs no room

        for all the fruit

        though it was there

        cracks in the trunk

        deep to the rotten core

        catching me with all of my defences down

        on the lawn the old depression of the chairs.

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.