Grandfather Plays Polo
In his greasy jodhpurs with the batwing thighs
Grandpa dreams of horses – we hear him snort and twitch.
His deck-chair’s tattered canvas cups his awkward frame.
All round the garden’s dreaming into June,
a first red rose leans down,
white lilies cloud the air with scent,
the iris straighten up in rows of blue.
A cat lights on the fence, takes in the sleeping man,
the human lap. Elastic-limbed it leaps
and as its feet touch down on Grandpa’s knees
the old man whips up to seize an ancient polo-stick
and swing out at the cat,
“Tail-shot!” he yells, “Chukka to the Club!”
then hands the stick to some imaginary groom.
* Gill McEvoy's's work is widely published. Pamphlet Uncertain Days (HappenStance Press, 2006). Limited edition Sampler due out from HappenStance in September 2008. Full collection due from Cinnamon press in 2010. She is featured on the website Poetry pf and on the HappenStance Press website.
