Almanac Poetry: ‘Magpie versus Crow’ – Tommy Mallet
Magpie Versus Crow
Nothing’s familiar
on this hangover walk.
A vacant block appears
within an endless, rolling sea of suburbs –
still water, reeds and weeds knotted about its boggy heart.
Birds mill, as if kids at play in crappy,
once-glorious fountains.
My dog shits as three magpies
take on a crow.
The magpies, smaller but faster,
hammer down,
chasing the crow as its
diesel wings dodge left and right.
Somehow, the crow pins one to the ground,
and its on,
just as a lady passes.
“Do something!” she cries,
as other crows appear, sweeping in from trees,
garbage bins, fences, back yards.
The crows are now giving it to the magpies,
one of which takes flight
calling for back-up,
or maybe promises of its turn
at revenge.
It reminds me of the time I saw
three louts
invincible with grog,
take on a cabbie,
only to look up and find themselves
surrounded by taxis,
a circle of angry drivers holding tire-levers.
Feathers are flying,
the woman makes whiny, pleading noises, demanding:
“Do something!” again.
She must be mad!
These birds only have one block,
a pinprick patch,
in what was once a world.
Why deny magpie or crow
even this?
Tommy Mallet
More from Tommy Mallet HERE
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Love your work, Tommy!