it happened overnight
or so it seemed
one day, a modest green bush
the next, a redcurrant carnival
I’d never seen so many currants
a super-abundance of currants
it was like Val, our next door neighbour
had snuck out at night
and tipped a sack of red plastic earrings over the fence
you could hardly call it picking
I only need smile in their general direction
and they hurled themselves sobbing into the colander
I’m sorry to report not all of them made it
many were spilled wastefully upon the earth
where I left them to the birds and the worms
libation I said out loud – but, come on! who was I kidding?
certainly not the Goddess of Soft Fruits
who, riding past on a bumble bee,
shook her head sadly
at my currant debauchery,
then spurred her mount on
to other, lovelier, more temperate gardens
(not Val’s, though. just saying.)