Watt Worris
Looney Tunes
as a kid I assumed
everybody kept cannon-sized
pistols concealed under
skirts & trousers or be it
the case fur or feathers
so if you crossed paths
with a dog in a three-
piece suit gold fob chain
dangling from his vest
pocket walking arm
in arm with a cat wearing
a flouncy blouson & bonnet
pushing a pram of baby blue-
birds you’d say now I’ve seen
everything & blow your brains out
no guilt no regret about
what the future we now know
holds in store behind
the curtain the mutilated
landscapes & bodies of the end-
less cycle of violence where
like refugees looking
for a home in a country not
bombed off the globe
we’ve come to understand
suicide isn’t an appropriate
punchline for children
you have to wait until
you’re grown up
to see the humor in it
Other work by Watt Worris