Food Order

(order number 57, Kilverts, Hay Festival 2005)

the Blackbirds are out today
they are here to spy for the government.
they are nature's proud guardians of the hedgerow.
they are here as part of a scholastic test,
to see if children can tell the difference
between them
and Crows.
They are dark winged fly-eating machines,
natural aviators and harassers of worms
i read a menu
as they land around,
searching for food
and writing abstract definitions of me
in their filthy green notebooks.

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