(First published in SpeedPoets Zine, November 2008)

Marsupial Meme


Midnight high-wire over


a fast flowing river of full moons,

claws skitter across a slope


of strange flat, tessellated rocks.


The city runs its wind through my fur as I dance


with the white-eyed giant, and he violently

introduces me to the sun.

Five boys, uniformed

in a stormy day

lean over the gutter

all arms and mobile phones


like swans at stale bread,


smiles wide with joy


at their freshly digitised carcass.

An afterlife of replication


screaming schoolgirls

and crass captions

my fur and Bolognese corpse travels


the world providing curious revulsion


to thousands as you turn onto Ipswich road


thinking you'll need petrol soon.

© Joanne Johns 2008. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0