Pruning of the vines

        Pruning of the vines

        and at this road distance

        so many small humped

        clouds of control amongst the snarl of canes

        a slowly floating climate of cold

        on these frost-sharp mornings

        whose keen touch tidies winter’s tangle

        and opens a first portal into spring

        a dull flat repeated note

        tuned upon gloved leather

        and numbed dull fingers

        strict sloping cuts above the bud

        turn a wood-white compact face

        to where the sun might be invited back

        out of this practised ritual

        in slow insensible darkness

        each worker

        now delineated from the dawn

        whose clippers clap on one hand for summer.

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.