AFP photo
By
Penn Kemp
Trooping the Colour
That would be the infamous orange he sports,
this lost Westminster Fox, who joins the fanfare
in celebrating the Queen’s birthday (or we will
all run away). Did he too want to glimpse her?
From under the stands he darts onto the Horse
Guards Parade, an open field without cover.
Who was more startled, the crowd or the fox?
Frightened but unfazed, he dashes alongside
delighted onlookers, kids cheering him on.
He looks askance at a lady’s scarlet fascinator
as if it contained a birds’ nest he might inspect
or under sudden duress could run to for cover.
How to return to his den in St. James’s Park,
not too far and a good address close to ducks
galore, but a world away from abhorrent din.
In embellished tales he will tell his kits how
he brazenly taunted those who would hunt him
down but are no longer allowed to in town. How
he as conquering hero bows to circus applause
and retires to recline on his laurelled haunches.
Mary McDonald photo
Penn Kemp
Penn Kemp is an activist Canadian poet, playwright and editor. Her latest works are Local Heroes, and the forthcoming Fox Haunts. Recent books include Barbaric Cultural Practice and two anthologies edited, Women and Multimedia and Performing Women. See www.pennkemp.weebly.com.
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