Richard Palmer
Frog
“Theories pass: the frog remains.“ Jean Rostand, Notebooks of a Biologist
Small, plastic, green
toothmarked by a hundred bathtimes:
the frog.
Mostly it lingers on the edge of the tub
while, more popular,
the squirting ducks, the purple “turtle” porpoise
are squeezed and sung about
flung to the bath’s round corners.
We theorise on toy selection
construct angles for washing her hair.
She becomes “A” frame, taut hypotenuse.
We improvise a cleaning.
The plug is pulled.
The splash and chatter of plastic
drains. We
hypothesize the drying and combing of hair.
In one empirical fist
she clutches it:
small, toothmarked, green.
Page(s) 46
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