Purple

Purple.

Not the colour

that springs to mind
when the calendar
says November

But

here are fuschias

in full bloom

in
winter sun
and teasing wind

and Hebes
in the cemetery
that think it spring

and cotinus coggria
with smoke filled plumes
turns purple too
like next door's sale board
blown down again since

And still this fellow
with bulbous berries
outlasts the frost and wind

but this is
Chesterfield
land of litter under hedges
and undelivered phone books.