Amelia Fielden

That Old Chestnut

A poet friend brings some roasted chestnuts to our group. Her daughter is now selling them on Fridays at the Canberra market.
        Instantly I am back

                           in Paris
                           as winter sharpens
                           my dark lover
                           buying bags of chestnuts
                           from a street seller   1985

                           in Nara
                           as golden leaves fall
                           my fair lover
                           ordering chestnut parfaits
                           from an icecream parlour  2004

                           the texture
                           of those distant seasons,
                           those affairs,
                           saturating my senses
                           as I peel a chestnut   2021

                I share the bag, not my recollections 

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About the Author

Amelia Fielden is Australian. She is a professional Japanese translator and a keen writer of traditional Japanese forms of poetry in English. Her most recent collection is These Purple Years (Ginninderra Press, 2018).