the whales come in from the ocean
and a man pushes in on the queue
I glared cause we’d waited in line
don’t know if he’d given his time
Whale stranding is a natural thing
sometimes you can tow them out to sea
Whales don’t watch tv
A pod will follow a whale in trouble
17 thousand eight hundred and fifty
stranded cetaceans in UK last year
housing the homeless, feeding the poor
we fondled our thoughts and watched suits on the tv that night
euthanasing whales is a hard decision
so I took my dog for a walk
Selling your goods at the market stall
assessing a price that someone will pay
calculating the work it takes to create
relearning the skills day by day
trying not to buy stuff I still don’t need
leaving addictions I left once before
I know I’ve been meaning to exercise more
I’m not seventeen and no longer poor
and whales don’t strand themselves on my door
we make love to advertised sport on tv each night
handing out how to vote cards
for people who still have more faith than I do
I’ll stand on a booth and think of a whale
or do some seismic testing on
the boardrooms
of Woodside, Santos, and Origin
with a view to
nationalising them
an Arizona wildlife centre is treating animals suffering from heat
The Matildas have beaten Canada 4-0
caress your glass with affection from tv tonight