WOODEN ZOO

I recall when you arrived

six months old in your pram

and your parents so young,

says Dorothy at the gate.

A daughter lost to cancer,

the oldest son a heart attack

climbing up a mountain.

He came to play with us

just once, back then

and we sniggered at his

peculiar way of talking

and wouldn't let him touch

the wooden zoo I owned

that held m...

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ISOLATION

I dreamed they moved the forest

as I watched from a window

never suspecting such impermanence;

scenery rolled like a stage set,

replaced by things more essential.

No trees, and in their stead rose

abodes of relentless brick

and from inside came starry toddlers,

women who looked through me,

hooded men with meagre histories.

I was irrelevant to th...

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