i will balance on the wall

Cheap perfume mixed with dog hair to make potions
Chrysalis on twig in jar on windowsill
All the books we had balanced upright to make a city
I will balance on the wall and walk the whole way round -
Under the rowan tree, bending, twisting to get past, but not falling -
Past the nettles to the right and the Gray’s garden to the corner -
Then the wall is thinner, rounded, feet must grip either side -
Past the next corner and the end of Mckenzie Crescent -
Looking down on the pen we kept the crow in -
Wall is thicker now and easy,
faster moving up a step but high -
And in the distance the Aird and the sea is a distraction
as another corner turned -
And then the gate - I only did it once -
four steps across the top rail -
And onto the railings -
only a tiny space between the points -
To fit my feet -
The living room window has no figure in it -
As I make it to the final corner
and jump onto the church wall
And hold the lamp post - it sways slightly
because of years of being ‘Base’.

A baby seal we found in Port Swengo
- its mother further out and anxious.
The crow had grey feathers in amongst the black
Christian lifted it easily, it lived for another year.
The puppies in a basket that Caroline carried
as we stumbled in the dark,
running away from James’ house
as they fought with fence posts in the garden.
The bird that I nursed in Science,
let out at lunchtime and flew back to me.
The whale we tied with rope to tow it out to sea -
watching with an animal’s eye.
The sea otter I disturbed as I climbed over a rock -
before it dived, its bristles touched my cheek.
Lying in the sun with Jacqueline,
sucking honey from tiny, purple flowers
before stealing Marvin’s bike.