You start the day
with the eyes that chose your first goldfish,
a smile as long as a slipper’s opening,
the feet of a puppy on laminate flooring.
Your clean shirt is excited
for a day of sweat and penguin shit –
there’s no time to hibernate
when gentrified jungle cats need brunch.
When asked if you’re scared
you think about the hand of an ex colleague.
Morning handsome, you lie to a giraffe
and skip lunch to count the chimps
like school kids who never understood you.

© Carl Burkitt 2020