The Seagulls

The seagulls think we live at the seaside:
the tower blocks are their cliffs;
they swoop for fish in the gutter
but are happy that it’s last night’s fried rice.
they stand about screaming on the pavement
beach
and ride the sea-breezes pumped out
by the cinema air-conditioning.
they hover over the waves of cars
and if you stare at them,
wondering what they’re doing
so far from home,
they stare back:
‘This is our home now.
That kebab
Is a crab.’

from Michael Rosen’s Big Book of Bad Things (Puffin, 2010), © Michael Rosen 2010, used by permission of the author.

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