A football rattle, machine gun fire
from the iron wrought balustrade.
Fiery fury, chiming clock out of time.
Wonky.
She guards her nesting young,
like I tickle my greyhound’s tummy,
fills her all-weather notes
like opening an accordion full volume,
hops like a high jumper’s last chance.
She can be tempted into your garden
with apples and holly berries.
Maggie Mackay’s poem ‘How to Distil a Guid Scotch Malt’ is in the Poetry Archive’s WordView permanent collection. Her collection ‘The Babel of Human Travel’ (Impspired) was published in 2022. She reviews poetry collections at https://thefridaypoem.com.