by Maurice Riordan
Someone snuck over the back fence
last night and pinched my ladder.
Then I found a bronze BMX
leaning outside the front door.
Was this an ancient barter?
Oats for alcohol, salt for a new wife.
Or a neighbour’s test, some version
of the Good versus the Bad Thief?
Did that man need to top leylandii?
This day take rag and bucket
to his high windows, or climb
into the dusty heap of an attic?
While I took to the roads,
blinking between the oaks
along the towpath, knowing
I was chosen for such latitude.
• From The Water Stealer (Faber, £9.99).
last night and pinched my ladder.
Then I found a bronze BMX
leaning outside the front door.
Was this an ancient barter?
Oats for alcohol, salt for a new wife.
Or a neighbour’s test, some version
of the Good versus the Bad Thief?
Did that man need to top leylandii?
This day take rag and bucket
to his high windows, or climb
into the dusty heap of an attic?
While I took to the roads,
blinking between the oaks
along the towpath, knowing
I was chosen for such latitude.
• From The Water Stealer (Faber, £9.99).
No comments:
Post a Comment