11 May 2017

The Mower
After Philip Larkin

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/48423

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The mower conked out. On close inspection, I found
That it had just run out of petrol. Having refilled
With a funnel, I pumped the choke three times

As per the instructions. It started first time
And I was back underway, circumnavigating
Tree trunks, dodging daffodils past their prime.

I didn’t even see a hedgehog, let alone
Kill one. But then I’m not so busy writing poems
That I let the grass grow two feet high.

I may not be a poet. But at least I can mow a lawn
Without slaughtering the wildlife.