Ever since we were an item,
for years, we had an affinity
for crayfish.
They didn’t stay for long
in the garden.
They didn’t like the pond then
– was it running water?
It was very quick. It didn’t have time
to be un-running.
Did they all go together?
How could they know where to go?
They’ve got eyes and feelers,
Yes, but for underwater, not on land.
And how could they do that, across fields and roads?
I don’t think “road” is in their vocabulary.
I wonder if they went in a line…
What we don’t know is how
they got out of the garden. The fence
it comes right down to the ground.
Maybe a cat killed and ate them –
Oh no, then you’d see the shells.
A cat wouldn’t do that!
Yes it would, if they were moving around.
A cat will eat anything that moves.
Well, they just disappeared.
A conversation between an older man and a younger woman, overhead at breakfast in a Shrewsbury B&B, 2009. Submitted by MsJinnifer.
Verbatim Poetry 