To Me You’ll Always Be Spat

Baby oyster, little grip,

settling into your pinch of shape

on a flooded timber rack:

little living gravel

I’m the human you need,

one who won’t eat you,

not with much relish, even

when you’re maturely underexercised

inside your knuckle sandwich.

Bloodless sheep’s eye, never

appear in a bottle. Always bring

ice, lemon and your wonky tub.

You have other, non-food powers:

your estuaries are kept clean as crystal,

you eat through your jacuzzi,

you make the non-sexy

think of a reliable wet

machine of pleasure,

truly inattentive students

of French hope they heard right,

that you chant in the arbours.

Commandant-of-convicts Wallis

who got the Wallis name unfairly

hated, had you burnt alive

in millions to make mortar.

May you now dance in the streets

and support a gross of towns!