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Propagation at 28a

Oblivious to the morning traffic
Two brown moths
Jive madly in the sunshine
Air-kissing and flirting above my head –
Two crazy rock ’n’ rollers tipsy on love.

Through the latch gate
Grass is bedewelled.

Now with sheds unlocked, tools selected
Watering cans full
I set to work on the allotment.
Our robin’s on Worm Watch
Sweetly singing in the tree.
The spade cuts into the hard earth –
Weeds in one bucket, stones in the other.

All around there’s new life –
Beetroot, onions, parsnips
A small dense forest of potatoes
Lines of leeks and garlic and shallots
Pear and plum and apple and fig
Thirsty melons and courgettes in the cold frame –
A cornucopia of leaf and flower and fruit.

And here am I
Propagating –
My pencil a dibber
Spacing out my words like seedlings on this pale plot.

Phil Mullane

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