Poetry from Rhys Hughes



VANILLA GORILLA
I’m a gorilla
who likes the taste of vanilla
ice cream. You are a
tender orang-utan
who prefers the tang
of tangerine. I am rather glad
you aren’t a gibbon
infatuated with fig and
strawberry who feels
an inexplicable need
to devour the dairy dessert
in haste and render
the tub quite
hairy.
HUSKY DOG I knew a husky dog long ago. In the day he pulled sledges over snow. But in the evenings he was a singer in a jazz club. WHAT WE CALL I sometimes wonder what we call a sea in which a brave dog swims desperately through tempestuous and perilous waves? Rough! Rough! SHEEP MAY SAFELY GRAZE THEIR KNEES Sheep may safely graze their knees when skating in the dark. Although the park is closed at night and trees in the breeze are sepulchral the half-pipe is still accessible to those who have the keys and this bold woolly flock do, it’s true. The rams and lambs are showing off, pulling wheelies and flipping spins, while the ewes prefer to slalom around tall bollards wet with dew. But no matter what tricks they play they are safe until the break of day, for this is a town that loves their kind, a place where animals can lark around and sheep may safely graze their knees.
Rhys Hughes has lived in many countries. He graduated as an engineer but currently works as a tutor of mathematics. Since his first book was published in 1995 he has had fifty other books published and his work has been translated into ten languages.
.
PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL