Martin,
Lovely sonnet. Two things struck me: First - 'Sixth' looks strange in words, for a poem's title; why not just 'October 6th'? Secondly, there are a lot of 'and's in it. In the penultimate line, athough I love 'sultriness', I wondered whether something like
Yet here I sit in contemplation, writing,
and on an apple - not a peach - am biting.
would work. It would get rid of one 'and'. Maybe you could lose another one or two?
I'd give my right arm to see you win either £300 or £150 in the LitRev sometime (well, maybe not the
whole arm...
)