Jacqueline Bartlett
Magpie
A flurry of dust and pecking
a gold eye rolling
then the bird lies slack
in his hands.
Clumsy with love
he splints sheened feathers
with flour paste,
matchsticks and strips
torn from Mam’s pudding cloths.
Across the table, Uncle Albert
who soon - not quite by accident –
will choke this wild creature with snuff
watches from the edge
of a light-pool which plops
onto the table
from an overhead mantle.
Spreading, it touches
the boy’s hair, deepens
shadows in soft hollows
of his neck
Outside
beyond thin curtains
night is marking the window
with a black wing.
Page(s) 17
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