ARK
Simon Armitage
They sent out a dove *Biblical
It wobbled home, wings slicked in a rainbow of oil allusion
A sprig of tinsel snagged in its beak
A yard of fishing line binding its feet *lexical field of physical harm
Bring back *the imperative/imploring
Bring back the leaf
They sent out an arctic fox
It plodded the bays of the Northern fringe
In muddy socks and a nylon cape *intertextuality
Bring back
Bring back the leaf
Bring back the reed and the reef
Set the ice sheet back on its frozen plinth *pedestal/stand
Tuck the restless water course into its bed *nurturing imagery
Sit the glacier down on its highland throne
Put the snow-cap back on the mountain peak
Let the Northern lights be the Northern lights
Not the alien glow over Glasgow or Leeds
A camel capsized in a tropical flood
Caimans dozed in Antarctic lakes
Polymers rolled in the sturgeon’s blood
Hippos wandered the housing estates
Bring back
Bring back the leaf
Simon Armitage
They sent out a dove *Biblical
It wobbled home, wings slicked in a rainbow of oil allusion
A sprig of tinsel snagged in its beak
A yard of fishing line binding its feet *lexical field of physical harm
Bring back *the imperative/imploring
Bring back the leaf
They sent out an arctic fox
It plodded the bays of the Northern fringe
In muddy socks and a nylon cape *intertextuality
Bring back
Bring back the leaf
Bring back the reed and the reef
Set the ice sheet back on its frozen plinth *pedestal/stand
Tuck the restless water course into its bed *nurturing imagery
Sit the glacier down on its highland throne
Put the snow-cap back on the mountain peak
Let the Northern lights be the Northern lights
Not the alien glow over Glasgow or Leeds
A camel capsized in a tropical flood
Caimans dozed in Antarctic lakes
Polymers rolled in the sturgeon’s blood
Hippos wandered the housing estates
Bring back
Bring back the leaf
