Rat

X

Brown & small & grave & round &

he saw he was approaching

a big dark hole in the bank

with neat ears & silky hair

it was another Rat!

Mole

X

two fields off a chauffeur:

sitting sprang scrambling & gassing

Toad again & assing heedless

he sighed

     & blew

the delicate                       curve

Toad

X

O(it’s all fraue)-ing drowsy in

the hot benadryl sunshine

try & love a donkey

& a glorious stream of

country lanes in a shabby

miserable hedge nagging

to try to grasp the rushes in

Barrett’s Back Garden Shed.

Toad

IX

lol I knew you would glen

racing cane dishes clubs

& cold feet include model

ships to handle the Horny

toad patio bar
I am legend drumroll

plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Toad

VIII

lamentations

(he said)

restless revolving

(smell of cabbage)

(lay prostate in)

smell of hot cabbage

twitter of sleepy canaries

(stop wit the kicks $Ya Ya$ $Mula$)

laughing its low ho! ho!

(ho!)

Rat

Andrew MacKay, smelled

      a rat.

pool maintenance, piano tuning,

Half a pair of socks

profiting on the manipulation of

“reimbursements”

                                                          & slept

soundly till the morning

Mole

VIII

shut off steam

sniggered off swaggering

arrogant written language, Agua em pedra dura tanto

within walls weak within walls

the debonair (flu) upspring

reels

Pipers at the Gates of Dawn: Rat & Toad VII

.
.
.
reeds whistle
& there's
Billy Millin
.
.


*

.
.
.
reeds whistle
& there's
notable bassoonist Bernard Garfield
.
.

Mole VII

.
.
.
reeds whistle
& there's
Acker Bilk
.

Toad I - III

Toad I - III

& the lock keeper an errant
an warrant &
the crofter crafts at Crufts
"cloop!"

brand-new wager-boat
brand-new ouiji-board
bored


placid poop-poop
"The poetry of
Motion!
The real way to
travel!
what (words) I shall fling carelessly!
that swan that sunbeam that*


Winter: Anura
tends to b(u/o)rrow
other uses:
True toad
a villain,
a humanoid mushroom
a Swiss rock
band


___
*stop being an ass

Mole 2 // Rat 2 // Windy Pillows

Mole II

The Mole shipped his skulls
"I'll do whatever you like, Ratty"
and gave it a squeeze.*
The Mole: a timid creature & on
The Open Road


*This is the characters' first encounter with the Poop-Poop.


Rat II

bank in the sun
no land- allowed

comfortably stern
though unconvinced

"You villains!
you highwaymen*


*I'll take you through all the Courts!

Windy Pillows / Rat I

I

coldtonguecoldhamiamcoldbeefpickle
dgherkinsaladrollscressandwitchespo
ttedmeatlegswithjerry'saucegendarm
imeangardontstoptillyougetenoughkee
ponwiththeforcedontstoptouchmeand

wind in the willows / moustache / willows

Yesterday we visited the Wind in the Willows exhibition in Henley's River&Rowing museum. At the moment I'm working on a sequence that bounces off WITW. Here's the first poem of what is currently the 'Mole' section:

Spring is clean is
sprung &c
& O my
Onion Sauce is leaking
O stop stop! my
Onion Sauce is leeking
with sparkle
& with the river water