Larkin is Disturbed

In Hull they landed fish & Larkin
& he sipped champagne [after a
fuck up by a parent – Let’s watch
Nazis parading – his father’s first
choice of destination]/ Poetry &
rhythm came early & easily/ On
to higher education & Oxford – a
failure only at military medicals
[& others not expressed – not ’til
he died – then his covert life was
dug at – sordid stuff – thrown up
in a glasshouse – set to shatter]

Dog-sitting

A sheen of grey-blue rises up
as if a timid ghost – a shadow
in a poet’s lounge [lick-curled

in her bed] – thin-faced – near
to equine – from her forelock
down to her pointed muzzle –

but never a quick bet at t’track
against unsighted hares under
floodlights – she knows not to

take stakes – she’s sure of that
One lap of her garden is quite
enough – slack – no mad rush

She finds her still-warm centre
without a sound – no fussing –
as if my duty hasn’t been done


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