Sugarplums*

Plum Tree

Secret summer scarlet
Peeping through
This anonymous child-tree
In an unremarkable corner of our garden
Huddled between the limbs
Of a dead tree
And the concrete watertank

I reach into the dusky green
And pluck a small glowing orb

Expect:
hard
bitter
poisonous

Discover:
yielding
sweet
familiar

The taste of the mild summers of my childhood

(Christmas, Mornington, Tasmania
Brown house on a corner block
Green lawns, gossipy fuchsias,
Cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles,
Gathering at nightfall
Under the plum tree
Saying our goodbyes)


*so it turns out we have a plum tree.