This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You

No clouds

no movement

you hold your breath and turn and follow the circle of the

unbending horizon line horizon’s circle.

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The workers eat their lunch in silence, gathered beside the road,

looking out across the fields

the way fishermen watch the sea.

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Celery &

spring onions &

leeks &

lettuces &

fragile crops which would be ruined by machinery.

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When the late afternoon comes

(when the light is only beginning to fade from the day fall)

the sky is the colour of a freshly forming bruise.

The workers are slowing their pace

pausing more frequently to savour

the warmth of the soil in their hands

aware now of the slight chill in the air

waiting

for the word that the day is over.

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What placement can do.

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When the evening comes