Milking a Marmoset
Milking a Marmoset under a tree
Glasses of iron upset under the lee
Of ships bound for Reykjavic, throbbing through ice
These are the words we found on the device
Atrophied marmalade clinging to clocks
Stratified sediment cut into blocks
A planet of shearing sheds smothered in gee
These are the things that it mentioned to me
Where black comets roll through the uncharted zones
And Zebras have learned how to use telephones
Where words come out sideways and sentences lean
These are the places it said it had been
Where mud stands up bristling and custard has eyes
And Egrets complain of the shape of their thighs
Where soot is revered by the Skeleton Crew
These are the spots it invited me to
A factory on legs with a crumpled up hat
A lost race of midgets infesting a Cat
An odourless gas which was fasting through Lent
These are the things that we saw as we went
Through oddly-shaped living rooms crawling with cakes
And mountains of manuscripts written by Snakes
And Whelks who were quaffing great tankards of beer
These are things we saw as we drew near
Camels with asteroids strapped to their heads
And frightened old robots who peered out from sheds
An avalanche wept and said 'I was deprived'
These are things we saw when we arrived
A Cosmonaut stitching his lips to a Goat
A fluorescent Anteater casting his vote
A mattress upon which a bicycle snored
These are the things we saw as we explored
A twittering valley where Lungfish applied
Themselves to the task of securing a bride
And Horses returning with worms to their nest
This is the place where we sat down to rest
A turpentine Llama with his teeth aflame
By means of a megaphone asked me my name
Then flew into pieces which asked me again
All this transpired as I sat in that glen
c. 1990 by Tim Gadd
