Egg

It is true,
is it not?
An ant
can 'do' moral philosophy.

walking looking back

light north wind
high cool cloud streaked sky
hedges
fuchsia blackberry honeysuckle
haws rose
hips nettles fertile ground
rats
far off scurrying trailing tails
dead
fresh spilled guts on tar
hedgehog
gentle face curled in peaceful death
rolls of hay
where cocks used to stand
field of leeks
stubble speckled with black flakes of crows
twin brother tractors
tilling scratching soil
telegraph poles
iron gated railings
and the deserted gate lodge
whose estate was this?
fields of greens
browns yellows stretch
looking into the distance
to the Sugar Loaf Mountain
near the end
of the lane the solid dark truck
Motorway Maintenance
chiming with a beat
“Beware this vehicle is reversing”

fall back

that man over there
may well be right
looks like Auden
did say "poems are
never finished,
merely abandoned."

so I'm off for a
pot of tea and a
hot cross bun,
whether in honour
of last Easter
or next, who knows?

at this rate we'll
be putting calendar
forward a month in
Spring and back in
Autumn.

Fox News

Early this morning
Brer Fox invaded my garden
Stretched and scratched himself

And the lawn – poor dry scorched earth

Brer Fox thinks he owns the garden
Maybe it’s the pond
Assorted little frogs, toads
And slugs in the damp patches

My finger on the window trigger
Fox looked slyly half my way
Scattered with family left and right
Disappeared for the rest of the day

But whatever Brer Terrapin,
Brer Blair, Brer Bush, Brer God
Believe Brer Fox will be back tomorrow