~
Of Ducks, Cheese and Anxiety
I’ve been scrambling my brains all morning,
not to think of a particular thing but just to stop
the whole castle sinking into mud
You know, like you see the duck gliding along
and it looks OK, but really its feet are scrabbling
and pedalling at high speed in muck.
And it’s probably taking valium,
and has chocolate or cheese under its wing.
Unbearable to think of ducks crying, of rabbits
being depressed, of turtles weighed down
by angst. It’s not right, is it? Meanwhile,
back at the ranch, or rather the hovel,
I’m tortured at 4am by the vital question
of whether the moon is made of hard
or soft cheese, and is it vegan? Yes, I know
the astronauts raised dust on it, but some cheese
has quite a crust. Time, release me.
And make life better for ducks.
~
Cathy Bryant has won 29 writing competitions and literary awards, including the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Prize and the Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest, and her work has appeared in over 250 publications. Cathy’s books are ‘Contains Strong Language and Scenes of a Sexual Nature’, ‘Look at All the Women’ and ‘Erratics’, (poetry), and ‘How to Win Writing Competitions’ (nonfiction). She co-edited the three volumes of ‘Best of Manchester Poets’. Cathy also runs the Comps and Calls website, listing opportunities for skint writers. She lives in Manchester, UK.