before the sun comes up

a cluster of pin-prick fairy lights transforms a tree into a ship of light

My palm

My palm is cobwebbed with wrinkles. When did they appear?

pram 2

He's pushing his boy along an endless pavement between motorway and frosted grass. The two year old is crying hard. The man stops and goes round to the front of his pram, tucking the boy's red face into his coat and stroking his hair. He whispers soft words halo-ed with cloud, and the child eats them like bread.

pram

a chubby sleeping baby swaddled in a furry teddy-bear suit, complete with ears

Hedge

A mass of rusty-red twigs, the hedge is a thrown-down endless length of mohair scarf. It warms the bare earth gap where the field-edges meet.

Firebird

Blackbird on bare branches, his orange beak a chip of flame.

wet landscape

a clay-coloured leaf face down, disguised as a frog * the wind worrying the japonica * umbrellas walking their owners to work * the sky (marbled grey) moving imperceptibly upwards * a smiling cat inside, looking out

winter wow

a naked tree strung with apples