Maria Jastrzebska
The Recidivist
What shall we do about Atylotus rusticus?
His translucent wings let in green sun.
Fifteen dipterists couldn’t give us an answer.
Sweeping the air with their nets they raced
round our meadow, took notes, exclaimed
then let him go. We still feel responsible.
There’s Halbert who worked hard all his life.
You can see ripples of pain across his ribs.
He stamps his hooves, swishing his tail,
as Atylotus saws at his skin with mandibles.
What shall we do about Atylotus rusticus?
He’s almost as rare as a golden eagle.
The great crested newt’s already gone,
since the farmer next door filled the ponds
and hedgehogs keep disappearing fast –
folk complain they drink cows’ udders dry.
Nowadays walking through bluebell woods
by our house we hear rifle shots ring out;
sand lizards, wheatears, badgers and voles,
are next in line as the A27 roars past.
We want to give Atylotus a chance
but can’t bear to watch Halbert wince
while Atylotus crawls over his eyes
or dances along his spine.
Page(s) 56
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The