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Down, in the country

Clik The Mouse

Thursday, May 19th, 2005

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 A new house, new back garden
fields and forests, welcome boundaries.
I awake, to a cheerful caress – the coo-coo of the wood pidgeon –
the same dawn chorus
that this city boy, loved to stir to, when holidaying on uncle Tom’s farm.
And now it’s a daily delight
a caucus of carrions
a causative cacophony
where the rooks raid
and magpies pinch;
the black and white denizens – usually two of them – a sign of joy
oftimes fighting, so naturally enough
I’ve christened them Bowyer and Dyer.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 No nicknames yet, for the squads of starlings
the bevy of blackbirds
the thrash of thrushes;
or the unreliant robins
manfully trying to make their way
in this madcap menagerie,
much like Swindon, Cheltenham and Bristol City.
And let’s not forget the blue tits
bouncing to the beat
of my avian orchestra.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 All this, contrasts,
to the Canaries, who no longer sing
but contemplate life in a quiet backwater

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 and the Eagles, no longer swooping –
they hovered, then caught the
wrong thermal – the one that became
the maelstrom of relegation.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 Again, in contrast to my own little devils
running unfettered and free,
the Saints, with recent welcome change of address,
now, after 27 years, have a new – and unwanted – post code :
the Championship.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 Amidst all this;
the Throstles, still twitter with excitement.

© Clik the mouse, 19th May, 2005

Notes

Woke this morning to the sound of wood pidgeons, which set this whole poem in flight.

Dedicated to Tommie, my nephew and godson, recent visitor and unfortunately, Saints fan.

This poem commentates on the teams relegated from the Premiership, season 2004 / 2005 :

Norwich City, Crystal Palace, Southampton,
and the team that leapfrogged them all on the last dramatic day (dubbed Survival Sunday) : West Brom

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/down-in-the-country/