Gumboot Residence

been a day of diminishing
revelations, not particularly
enlightening events, more
like ego-shrinking occasions
swamp-wading in
embarrassment

firstly a gumboot resident
green tree frog balances you
an earthy limb – better
teetering without intent
than ingloriously croaking
you might conclude

the brief conversation
condemns persistent rain
leastways we have that in
common though we’re not
agreed on novel ideas of
frog habitation in the wet

three times this week’s a
fair croak you’d like to think,
but in face of ‘what’s a ‘week’?’
– perhaps not, there’s a
gently constrained but
subtle irony in that

oh, never mind you say,
hop up a tree for goodness
sake, it’s what you’re really
designed for – regardless,
this gumboot isn’t the
wisest place to hang out

why not, says the frog
this ‘week’ as far as I can tell
you wisely didn’t hang out
here either – you’d agree
most of the time it’d’ve
been empty but for me
© 31 March 2011, I. D. Carswell