Manuela

Let’s stop marching in lines.

Let’s have no more titles.
Let’s free Majesties and Excellencies—
even Honourable Members—
of their heavy coats, now the sun is shining.

Let’s have a president
like José Mujica of Uruguay,
whose greatest pleasure is to sit in his garden
with cushions at his back,
gently scratching the head
of his ancient three-legged dog, Manuela.

Let’s stop trying to be perfect.

Let’s stop marching in lines.

 
Dorothy Yamamoto lives in Oxford, writes about animals (in prose as well as in poetry), and helps to run poetry group Oxford Stanza 2. Her collection, Landscape with a Hundred Bridges, is available through her webpage http://www.poetrypf.co.uk/dorothyyamamotopage.html