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            as many had foretold
       aliens landed on Dartmoor
   in teapots formed from multi-coloured  lights
       & early Hillage solos
                                they beamed through to rooms
            featuring chickens with four legs
                   Hughie Green's parrot
                       Compo's ferret             a giant armadillo
                             The Great Mexican Trilobite
     & a band of stuffed guinea pigs on the sherry while
                                knocking out Kenny Wheeler tracks
                            on tiny tarnished instruments of brass
     dead rats gamble for fake cash       squirrels sip port
     &  a bunch of moth-munched rodents play cricket
              near a church made entirely out of feathers
                              the lifeless remnants of albatross
                                  coypu & lamprey mingle with
        badger traps        French milkmaids' yokes
   a Tasmanian convict's cap    & this pixy made
                               from bits of lobster
             the O.M. knew they wouldn't hurry back
even though they'd missed the best displays:
       Kittens' Wedding               Death of Cock Robin
           & in the staff kitchen          the non-stick
                             flat-bottomed wok





Devon         March 2009