Iain Crichton Smith savours the changing face a rural scene in this short piece from his New Collected Poems (Carcanet, £18.95).
AUTUMN STUBBLE
The corn has been cut:
the stubble remains.
It is sharp and intense
in spite of the fences.
It will cut bare feet
not like the various
happy hilarious
seethe of the waving summer.
It has the crucial
bite of bright teeth,
this exciting satire.
Its rich dryness
invites us delightedly
as the swaying gossip of stalks.
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