But they are reportage of detail from a small life. There might be a reviewer within these islands that would say so.
Two Small Incidents
This Week
1
I’m looking at hats on a market stall.
The cheapest type of panama or fedora.
Behind me I hear the sort of local wit
That keeps the stall holders so entertained.
He’s asking what came first, the chicken
or the egg. And that it’s a good question.
I look at one or two more hats.
They’re 7 quid and shouldn’t be put near naked flames.
But then can’t help but turn round to explain
It was the egg, the egg came first.
Dinosaurs laid eggs
Before there were chickens.
But he says, yes, but there was life
On earth before dinosaurs
And I say, yes, there was
But not chickens.
2
I packed my bag for a week off
Throughout the week before,
Adding each item as I thought of it.
Tablets, diary, camera.
Oh, yes. Camera, and therefore
Some replacement batteries to put it in.
I take two batteries out of the drawer,
The last two in the cardboard strip
Then find that I have put the cardboard
Into my bag and am walking to the kitchen bin
To throw the batteries away.
Why am I throwing these batteries away.
Oh, I see. Perhaps I’ll put them in my bag
And throw the cardboard away instead.
