I have always wanted to be nocturnal,

To Live by the light of the moon.

There’s something about the stars – they’re eternal.

I pray the sun sets soon.

From Things You Find in a Poet's Beard by A.F. Harrold

i.

Great grey belly porker,

toothy yawning slug,

cow-nosed submarine,

                                     reads

                         First, months

of flash, thud, shudder,

then the wailing...

All night Tippi and I lie with our arms
wrapped around each other
like rope.
I bury my face in her neck
and she wakes every now and then
to kiss the top of my head

'I'm fed up looking like Father Christmas,'
Muttered Father Christmas one year.
'I need a new outfit. I must move with the times.

The Hairyboos were hairy, the Smoothyboos smooth.

But they lived side by side and were never rude.