Many and varied penguins

• Eleanor Bally
• Poetry
• 2005

I stole the pen
I did
Just to write on the toilet wall
About how my shoe-lace is undone
How the writing on my hand won’t come off
How my chest is stretched and tight
Groggy and white
Those sweaty fingers
That rub off onto plaster
Penguins in suits
Who quietly toot
Their bow ties over summer
We are leaving now
Rub our footprints out of the carpet
And take our toast from the toaster
Oh god what I want, and cannot have
What you tell me I am
And who I wish I was
A purple pen on a toilet wall
A scratch on the world