a magnolia map

'They bloom both in spring time and in deep time'

In my garden is a magnolia tree, starburst-pink against the March sky. Buried in book edits, and working extra shifts at the bookshop, for weeks I have been a creature of pencils and pages but this morning, stepping out to feed my hen I looked up and there—as much of a surprise as the first day I saw it—was a towering cascade of flowers, almost as high …