The park gate opens with unwavering sincerity.
I am a gate, it says, I open and close.
I walk through and nod at a dog walker
wearing walking boots designed
by a group of people who woke up
specifically to design walking boots.
Lovely day, he says. A squirrel eats a nut.
The sky is nothing
but the sun doing what the sun does.
The thick tree at the far end
standing between two benches
dedicated to two 17-year-old boys
refuses to pick up the conkers it has lost.

© Carl Burkitt 2023