The Bower Bird’s Song
Right, the plan: a pile of blue
to win her heart. She’ll get
blue bits and bobs, blue stones, blue bottle tops,
blue guitar picks, blue poker chips,
blue chalk, blue snooker balls, blue pills
and things to give a girl a thrill –
a baby-doll in bedtime-coloured silk,
a bowl of sun-sweet plums, a sapphire ring…
at least, a necklace made of feathers
that glow like flames at gas mark 2.
On days when skies are blue enough
to make a sailor’s trousers up
I’ll drill her a parade: a passing out of royal blues,
the air force and the UN blues
with arms presented, all eyes right
to see her blue blood pinked, to catch
her baby blues flooding navy black.
Blue Monday and Blue Moon I’d trill her if
my flicking tongue were not tied down
by the violets held in my bill.
Page(s) 24
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