For Rupert (King of the Monkeys)
I’ve been trapped inside this poem for days
structure is restrictive, like playing pool
with the New York School, the game is haunted by furniture
or Auden walking in. Don’t you know Wystan
in the future we will all be great poets? Wystan Hugh shrugs
he is carrying a bag of magnetic letters
to make puns by the kitchen sink
while drinking a glass of milk. An allegory appears
under the kitchen table, he kicks it, it disappears.
The man with emerald eyes boxing shadows, the man
with the kenko smile, the man with the electric heart.
The pinball game is over. The pinball game is over.
Charlie Baylis