Not Quite Pixar

“I spoke
To a man down at the tracks
And I ask him
How he don’t go mad”
—Television, ‘Marquee Moon’

Kid—it ain’t quite Sid—it ain’t quite Woody.
But if you can ride this out

Ignoring their noise, penning
Some calm and balance

And poise: well, it can be half
Not bad—half not good.

Like a falling together
Between charged and pretty

Perhaps. A dog
In and out a worn basket

Captures it: homely; steady.

(A version of this poem was first published in A New Ulster, Issue 116, August 2022 (https://issuu.com/amosgreig/docs/anu116))