Robert Etty
Every Cloud
Raymond’s been frightened of foot and mouth.
MAFF envelopes are arriving daily,
dropped with his milk in a box on the path.
He’s locked his sheep in his nissen huts and
painted Dip feet! in blue gloss on his gate.
It’s hailing at ten-minute intervals
and cold as a witch’s tit. This is the April
we’ve waited all winter for. Magnolia
petals hang inside out and daffodils
snap in the wind. The Government’s thinking
about vaccination. It might be
a viable tool. Farmers, however,
are still unconvinced and the Government
daren’t prime a syringe till they say so. It’s been
a tough winter for people like Raymond,
whose living’s in the fields. The wind’s blasting
straight from the Arctic today and common sense
whispers Just watch TV, but that isn’t going
to put food on the table, so Raymond’s
pulled two khaki overcoats on and set out
to dig someone’s soakaway. At teatime,
as he drives across his disinfected straw,
sunshine explodes through his horse chestnut tree
where buds are unclenching like fingers and toes.
MAFF envelopes are arriving daily,
dropped with his milk in a box on the path.
He’s locked his sheep in his nissen huts and
painted Dip feet! in blue gloss on his gate.
It’s hailing at ten-minute intervals
and cold as a witch’s tit. This is the April
we’ve waited all winter for. Magnolia
petals hang inside out and daffodils
snap in the wind. The Government’s thinking
about vaccination. It might be
a viable tool. Farmers, however,
are still unconvinced and the Government
daren’t prime a syringe till they say so. It’s been
a tough winter for people like Raymond,
whose living’s in the fields. The wind’s blasting
straight from the Arctic today and common sense
whispers Just watch TV, but that isn’t going
to put food on the table, so Raymond’s
pulled two khaki overcoats on and set out
to dig someone’s soakaway. At teatime,
as he drives across his disinfected straw,
sunshine explodes through his horse chestnut tree
where buds are unclenching like fingers and toes.
Page(s) 40
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