Poem 547

An afternoon in Hamilton in 1979 – I had tied a red clown nose to a helium balloon and carefully filled it with salt so the balloon floated steady in mid-air in our lounge – I was in a bad mood and while I sulked the balloon crept out of the room behind my back, surreptitiously traversed the kitchen behind Lynette’s back and escaped out the open back door never to be seen again (perhaps to join the umbrella from Poem 307) … when I turned round to see it had vanished and then recreated its stealthy flight to freedom and self-determination I was so delighted that it seemed my sour mood had disappeared with it …

Strange Events

The balloon was my anger
salted down
but it went out the door
unseen
to visit someone else
over the row of fences
you lost your clown nose
tied to it

we had dinner