I leave the house for two days
and when I return you are a giraffe.
You still have the head of a chimp
but you have learned how to reach
the tops of surfaces with your mouth.
You can say Leaf and Lion
and you enjoy vegetables. I blink
and you are a whale in the bath
laughing at water up your nose.
I cough and you are a digger
scooping up the Earth whenever you can.
I blink and you are book and an apple
and a dinosaur and an upturned
packet of rainbow coloured crayons.
I yawn and you are train
running away from the station.

© Carl Burkitt 2022