I am a camera collecting images
a magpie laughing warning
ha ha ha Ha Ha
glinting black pure white
hopping sideways
confident intelligent
sharing my Mancunian lawn
a swan in flight compass-straight
crossing the bottle-necked highway
slow wings conducting its own fugue
commuting
towards the evening sun
unaware of fuming M60 motorists
two grim-reapers sitting in a polished hearse
suits black collars stiff hair grey
hiding their planned arrival
from the grieving souls
they ignore double-yellow lines
timing death to the suburban second
my parents in old age
sitting side-by-side
leafing through the years
pointing turning smiling
fondly sharing
landscapes of their urbane lives
I am a camera collecting images
By Naomi Matthews
This poem received a Sponsor’s Award in the Poems Please Me Prize 2014
Illustrated by Tim Shelbourne (top) and Harry Ibach (lower)
