Strange fruits

Blackberries shrivel on Cellar Hill

though a few late blooms defy the new order:

bletted plums usurped by ripening pears.

A kestrel hovers over the orchard,

the gate staked by an estate agent’s board.

Cobnuts lie scattered like popcorn on the turning

to Lynsted Lane, by the houses that first broke

through the earth in the spring, now de-scaffolded,

exhaling steam through plastic heating vents.

And strange fruits hang in the hedgerow,

Stella cans, a Co-operative bakery wrapper

with orange sticker, reduced to 40p.