Wot larks
I am a lesser redpoll,
Anonymous and smart,
Although I like huffin
And puffin.
Short of charm and wit,
I would like to be a European shag, but
I am a telltale tit.
I am a Northern mockingbird.
This is my Welsh friend, the red-breasted goose.
It’s our tern to skua you.
See this? I’m a blackcap.
I will not budge.
I have been privately bred: let me
Be the judge.
Show me Respect!
I am a twite!
I am a cuckoo, full of chuckle;
What I say is near the knuckle.
This is your family gaff, no doubt?
Chuck the little blighters out.
My feathers are green,
My plume is green,
My beak is green,
I am green, how much, I’ve
No idea.
Click here for a Telegraph article
Click here for details of an upcoming reading
Click here to buy a copy of Bill’s poetry collection Ringers
Click here for Bill’s New Statesman research project
