| STATE OF THE HEART |
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In the uncertain interplay between species, a plastic heron protects our fish pond from the real thing; against the shrubs a painted cat - sheet metal silhouetted - with cold glass eyes, warns off toms and their proprietorial pissing; for loose dogs on the loose, an electronic box transmits waves pitched so high they pierce the ears of the hairiest hounds, stopping them dead; and gas guns fixed on a timer in the fields, simulate blasting twelve-bores keeping marauding rooks and pigeons on the hop; while, on the local airfield, the recorded scream of a Golden Eagle, played at full pitch, transfixes the dickies, ensuring that passenger jets lift off, touch down with intakes unchoked. Yet, down the lane, under the cattle grid through which careless hedgehogs regularly fall, small ramps deliberately placed, let them scuttle back to freedom. |
| John Younger was born in Croydon. He was a lecturer at Halifax College of Art until loss of sight forced his resignation. He became an undergraduate and gained a first class B.A.Hons in English from Leeds University and he later lectured in the School of English there. He lives in Tealby, Lincolnshire and composes his poems on a PC fitted with a voice synthesizer. |
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Poem © John Younger, 1999 Web design by Gerald England This page last updated: 25th October 2002. |