Picnic

It’s all I have to bring today:
this small notebook.
I pat my pockets theatrically
Now where could it be?
A corner peeks out like a handkerchief
I heave out the rest.
It is so full of people
they are all sat very still
they are all stood very still
they are all lay motionless.

I sketch a picnic blanket
spread the book out on the grass.
Where shall we sit?
I put us each end like a loveless couple.
Grapes and cheese, she demands.
There is too much
so I add a pigeon, a pair of rats.
Eat as much as you can, I say.
When we've finished
I'll rub out what's left.