Mutant apple
delicious tart
you drop into the world
green skinned
-pearshaped-
your signature stalk
a quizzical i
your luscious cousins
blushing pink nubile
svelte mouthfuls
or wintry hard-core queens
of pear-cellulite;
leathery Bosc—
we relax in your company
no-one ever left Paradise
for knowing you
Dick Alderson grew up on a small farm on the outskirts of Perth. He worked as an engineer, then began writing poetry in 1994. His work has appeared in journals including Westerly, Blue Dog and Indigo Journal, and was commended in the Tom Collins Poetry Prize in 2009. He lives near Fremantle.