Monday 22 April 2013

A Chalk Zoo - Day 22. NaPoWriMo - An Earth Day Poem


A Chalk Zoo

 

I draw a pig, a bird, a cat.

He sketches an aardvaark,

a dinosaur, a platypus.

 

You clap, leap, dance on these

at our instruction.

When we obey your tasks

you complain

when we dance quietly,

want our bodies to shout

like yours.

 

You have given it all

and with dusk fall

your retreat for a bath

and tale about Mama Bear.

 

I visualise the paving

filled with purple giraffes,

orange penguins

and turquoise bears.

 

I cancel plans, to sketch a zoo,

on our suburban avenue.

 

I sear Saharan camels on to

this Chorlton pavement

savannahs and jungles

grow from my chalk deftness.

 

I bask green in rainforests

and snorkel in the only Coral Reef

in South Manchester.

 

A murder of crows,

a murmuration of starlings,

a wilderness of monkeys,

a sounder of wild boar,

a business of ferrets,

a parliament of owls.

All intricate in imagination

ready to be realised

 

When I shake the packet

one small stub of white chalk

bowls forth.

I had grand plans.

 

Instead I draw you a smile,

a kiss,

a daffodill you dismiss

as messy,

and a shrew holding a heart

holding your name.

 

You are delighted

as if the road

was filled with feathers and snouts,

with talons, scales, dinosaur's jaws

and the scent of evolution.

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