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