Green (October)

Magnolia leaves, large some flat cut into, flutter slightly in hundreds, light green under green. It’s the last day of October. New shoots now flourish across elms high above rooftops. Bush orchids project from dark mud, their cold green holding back forms of pinky-green flowers. Thistles, their down blown, and spindly grasses pushing small blooms, share a roadside plot with lost opium poppies, their leaves seeming repentant, their heads bent, unopen. Level on level of callistemon branches, their green resistant strategies at work, ready with what colour time has arranged. Jades in pots line a verandah, and cacti, greens varying.