Life Is Charmed

Non-stop watching television last night - my eyes
refused to close reacting to something in the food
or air; watching the Healer heal with energy, the
tiger mantis shrimp breaking into action at speed
such that the water boils - the common octopus
suffocating an attacking shark & sea cucumbers
blooming with ten tentacles feeding continuously

like my own propensity to munch all day long;
wild bridezilla’s buying two wedding dresses
before hunting for a third & parading in layers
of tulle for their innumerable wedding retinues,
Disney Channel Binny and the Ghost chasing
bullies at school; Sabrina the Teenage Witch,
Agatha Christie’s ABC Murder series, the soft-

spoken actors whispering so genteelly I can’t
hear what’s going on and Father Brown in my
favourite show with his black bicycle – our cat
scratching the front door loudly - seemed like
imminent criminal attack until I constructed a
makeshift wall to keep the noisome creature
out; today I’m Quasimodo, a hunchback with

swollen eyes, waiting to don a jihadist cap and
fluttering in a wet towel like a blue Fledermaus
to the bus stop, safe against the sun, reading
my favourite book on the bus, arrive at home
tired & hungry where my pensioner husband
shares his latest schemes for domestic bliss
‘ere I install myself in front of the TV to watch

another plane crash mystery – to summarise,
my life is charmed - like a lovely dream….

[Wednesday 6 February 2019]