Guest Poem by Peter Robinson

Peter Robinson has published many books of poetry and translation for some of which he has been awarded the Cheltenham Prize, the John Florio Prize and two Poetry Book Society Recommendations. His Collected Poems 1976-2016 is available from Shearsman Books. Recent publications include The Collected Poems of Giorgio Bassani, translated with Roberta Antognini (Agincourt Press, 2023) and a new collection of poems called Retrieved Attachments (Two Rivers Press, 2023). This poem is from Acumen 109.

Evening Primrose

You call me out as the light goes
to watch our evening primrose
lemon-yellow petals splay.

With more rain threatened for the weekend,
sun come and gone all day,
getting ahead of itself again
can a summer remember its springtime?
Is it welcoming of autumn?

Because in this season’s climacteric
we’re making the most of serene
or over-clouded forecasts
where age in marriage still loves to hear
years told, and finds them evergreen
despite your primrose petals’ span,
I ask what does the weather mean?

But you say best go in, as dew’s
seeping through our summer shoes
and there’s no time to lose.