The gum trees are stripping.

        The gum trees are stripping.

        Long braids of thin ochre shadows

        not peeling but waving.

        Flagging this yearly ritual of falling bark

        and how the skittish and itinerant wind

        unhinges each one

        and ceremoniously throws its cast skin

        against the house.

        And at the end of the long drive

        just before the gate

        where the pink sky ribs back forever

        two rosellas painted with a brilliant

        pageant of bright colour

        peck amongst

        grey gravel for the seeds of this spectacle.

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.