Anthology acceptance

The following poem has been selected by Helen Ivory for inclusion in the latest Norwich Writers' Circle national poetry competition anthology, due out in April,


What the Fruit Becomes

Each year I do as my mother did
and hers before her; tending each
soft bud in its green carapace.
The birds take their few, calling.

The summer does its work,
swelling the flesh, each fruit nurtured.
The neighbours look askance,
always, at my empty belly

and my heart full of song.
Then, sweet juice calms their children’s
fevers, soothes away troubles.
A miracle; but the whispers begin.

In the orchard they cut apple wood.
Its sweetness carries always on the air,
oblivious to its destiny. They plan;
the wood is stacked for years, tinder-dry.

I know, when they come for me,
that it will catch at the first spark.