3.10 (From REAL)

Stephen Ratcliffe

Backlit green of rose leaf above flat grey rock
leaning against glass to the left of the white
building, curve of roof below which two small
square black windows appear. Woman in black
jacket reading the hagiography of the Cuban
woman saint, the last exit perhaps already
behind her. The woman walking across the field
in search of a first small reddish-brown flower,
the Abyssinian cat at rim of tub watching after
water drains out. Sound of man in green jacket
walking in the front gate across from upper edge
of brick plane, participation in certain moments
that manifest themselves. A pair of white birds
circling against the diagonal slope of the ridge
below a grey cloud in blue sky, the white line
at the top of the opaque green wave breaking
into the channel.