A red-rump parrot

A red-rump parrot

        from its sharp vantage

        on the iron fence

        is stripping quinces

        and the yellow ripeness on thick skin

        until it matches more

        some pale winter face

        grown out of sun in this late April

        heat-bitten morning

        where every kind of colour

        is rampant even in the shade.

        Rinds further each rounded fruit

        perfectly

                       almost in places

        to the hard centre of its core.

        Bits of left flesh burnt brown

        against the other bite of air

        grown into small

                                    shrivelled masks

        festooned in monstrous harvest

        once the bird has flown.

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.