Paddy melons

        Paddy melons

        pungent in prickly heat

        early seconds of the sun

        delineate a ripeness

        trellised

        on grey withered vines

        across scorched ground

        before the stunted hills

        a bitter harvest

        scattered

        amongst khaki spinifex

        a constellation of rotting

        yellow rounds of fruit

        green shiny bush flies

        suck out

        in slow orbit of the hours

        splitting orange skin stinking

        in the jam-thick air

                                       of afternoon.

 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.