The Docklands cranes that hoist containers
from ship to shore and back again
are giraffes according to my friend's four-year-old.
Residents of the urban zoo sleep on their hooves,
work all day and eat stars instead of leaves;
now there aren't many left in the city.
Perhaps they live on bats, as the bats eat flies –
double swarms obscuring church spires.
The four-year-old wears a Batman costume
padded with muscles and adores yelling, Emergency!

Extract from Our Effects

Amy Brown