Miranda Tite
Moat
Below Stokesay the moat runs into a wildfowl lake.
Richard sat there in the warm autumn sunshine
writing his contribution to the workshop.
As he read it through a sudden gust
ripped it from his fingers
and tossed it across the meadow.
A large swan stilled it with a webbed foot
hissed triumphantly and beat his huge wings
refusing to let it go.
Richard said it wasn’t very good
but supposing it was his best ever poem
being trampled by a swan.
They can hold you with their beaks
and break your leg with crashing wings
so you don’t argue with a swan.
They say the farmer there wasn’t friendly...
Imagine it became famous - the one poem he ever wrote.
Absolutely the most famous poem in the world
and the farmer, almost inarticulate in interviews
just says “a swan give it me”
and in the end with the stress of it all
he’s locked away, he never gets out
and all he can ever say is
“a swan give it me, the moat swan give me the poem”.
Page(s) 123
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