A cooler world today
Muted colours and barely any air moving
There is a contentment
That comes when children’s happiness
Is freed from relentless northern winds
For a moment I got to swing
In the hammock
And felt bliss
And quietude
The pup is in her first season
Vicious
Thoughtless
She is anxious and wary
And takes no shit from nobody
Yelling
Running
I look outside to see a sea of chicken feathers.
The panic grabs at my heart
I find her
Hunkered by the garish pink bucket
Barely alive
I hold her upside down and ask if I
Can see her wounds
Sobs come so easily nowadays
Mine and my children’s
The toddler gabbles the whole sorry story
We put her in the outside toilet
Where all our new girls have gone
To acclimatise after the horrors of the factory
And we wait
Feathers strewn all over the garden and
I think I’ll rake them up in the morning
Pup gets yelled at and we know we’re not doing it right
Terrible dreams of them lifting this lockdown before
It’s the right time and the virus
Takes us one feather at a time
Leaving us torn and naked
Frost dawns
And the feathers are being picked up for nesting beds
By dunnocks and tits and chaffinches
I leave them for their babies
She is still alive so
Today I will try some antibiotics and
Rescue remedy
Nwyfre 