Green Parrots in My Garden emerged from the years Jane Ross lived in the Arab and extended Middle East. As she discovered the wealth of life, custom and landscape, she decided to write about them. Her essaie (French: essayer - to try) sharpened as she journeyed into Arab lands and the beliefs of the people who live there. Accordingly, the poems capture what that world held and holds for her: the constellation of culture, people and places. The experiences of life in the Gulf region stretched and enlarged her sense of what is possible and/or real; warmed her with friendship and nourished her with food. The poems express how that life uplifted her with kindness, grace and perfume ̶ and at times troubled her with threats of war and most recently of disease. The blessings and observations of that life give rise to the poems in this volume.