whew what a scorcher, or burn baby burn
we dig ready-baked potatoes
out of our allotments
a new well fetches over
a million quid at Sotheby’s
the water is used
to christen a royal baby
we the poor can only applaud
and croak our praises
a cloud is spotted over Europe
but scuttles off in a huff
the zoo rhinos
are slathered with moisturizer
so their skins don’t crack raw
no-one wants angry rhinos
the full moon sheds a dry tear
the sun powers on in King Kong mode
cricket pitches snap like Pringles
everyone goes on holiday in their mind to polar regions
quick before the last bit melts
but a gardener I know
goes on cloud-pruning her green bay tree
someone must, says she
medicine for invalid earth
wait what
a dozen thorns
to be swallowed on waking?
that’s no remedy
the patient knows better
why should she comply?
twelve scalpels
washed down
with a sip of water at lunchtime?
no way no way
soon the patient’s
too poorly to stand
feverish and hollow-eyed
razor blades on toast at bedtime?
but the patient gasps
I’m feeling a bit better
the doctor
offers fiercer medicine
don’t you want to be cured?
sickly princess earth
won’t surrender
over my dead body says she
Penelope Shuttle lives in Cornwall. Her thirteenth collection, Lyonesse, appeared from Bloodaxe in June 2021, and was Observer Poetry Book of the Month for July 21. Covid/Corvid, a pamphlet written in collaboration with Alyson Hallett, appeared from Broken Sleep Books, September 2021. Father Lear, a pamphlet, was published by Poetry Salzburg in June 2020.
Modron Magazine 