tower between trees
under a growth of stillness
in near-blue
woodpecker’s hit-
or-miss punctuation
of the sentences
playing out in my head
unheard in offices
and factories and
houses beneath this hillside
the metal of the past
twists into a leaf-affirmed
present of trees
the branches soar
Corstorphine Hill, Edinburgh, 20 January 2023
Brian Lavelle 