Wood fired pizza
at Blue Gables Vineyard:
Smoked salmon, cream cheese, dill sprigs
and capers, cherry tomatoes, black olives,
topped with fresh rocket.
.
Ballyhooed view blue-hazed
by latest fuel reduction burn-off -
Ah well,
shiraz more than compensates
leaving a flirty touch of tart on tongue tip
followed by flood of pomegranate sweet.
Swallowing - musky wood smoke
in back of throat.
.
Wonderfully complimenting -
soloist with acoustic guitar,
his voice Joe Cocker-husky, smoky, raw,
transforms his eclectic repertoire;
everything from Ella Fitzgerald
to Crowded House into moody-blue-soul-cool.
When pig-tailed toddler clambers
triumphant onto verandah
and flops down, heels dug into bum to listen,
guitarist strums and experiments a moment,
closes eyes, concentrates, then begins
bluesy Twinkle, twinkle.
.
There are a hundred patrons or more
lounging on verandah, propped around
wine barrels or strung out
on striped-umbrella-ed -outdoor furniture,
lined up inside for beer, wine, cider
or to order pizza,
yet those whose ears decipher tune,
turn instantaneously to children, raise hands,
wriggle twinkling fingers;
while ringleted tot with sparkle pony shoes
and mulberry top who started it all,
waggles chubby digits, head tip-truck-tilted back -
right back, all the way
so she can starry-eyed gaze at singer
with adoration.