Flaming crocosmus

Running rest-day ... spent a bit of time this evening at our Allotment: thought these crocosmos were looking particularly fine :-)

Just can't believe this is our sixth, growing-year at the site!

Here's a short poem, by Brenda Tai Layton, which celebrates the pleasure of the Allotment ...


Birthday

Welcome to this allotment, to these plots,
called Gardens by locals
ancient and modern.
Among acres of effort
fertilised with pride,
yours is this,
for you
top of the waiting list.

Here are days when elder-flowers limbo,
minutes as cormorants soar like kites,
seconds while yours and your neighbours’
thoughts converge on a universe caught
in the magic of spades clumped with soil,
lumped with sweat, merged with drizzle.

Sometimes you may stand arms akimbo,
numbed by the wonders of silence,
the beauty of cooked compost,
the glow in a line of brassicas.
O show your basket of produce
and celebrate
the flow
of waiting lists.