Window Holiday
one breakfast I spill milk across the sky
two creamy calves stick out their tongues to slurp it up
from cirrostratus grass and on the clouds’ low slopes
a wisping steam train slowly lugs three carriages
of daffodils and insubstantial hopes
a pod of purple porpoises starts playing in my street
they hide-and-seek in nimbostratus foam
droplets from their blowholes spot the window glass
they mock me stuck inside and stuck at home
lumpy grey grumpily thumping a rumpus of elephants
fling my nimbusnimble little brother from their backs
as he falls I catch him as he crashes haul him in
splendorous splashes drench our chilly skin
then the evening phoenix in a flare of flames proclaims
the dragons are coming the dragons are dipping
to sip the sinking sun yes the dragons have come
to spit *F*I*R*E*W*O*R*K*S*
when did my disappointments disappear?
never mind the planes and where they go
imagination and the wind can blow
a window holiday right here
two creamy calves stick out their tongues to slurp it up
from cirrostratus grass and on the clouds’ low slopes
a wisping steam train slowly lugs three carriages
of daffodils and insubstantial hopes
a pod of purple porpoises starts playing in my street
they hide-and-seek in nimbostratus foam
droplets from their blowholes spot the window glass
they mock me stuck inside and stuck at home
lumpy grey grumpily thumping a rumpus of elephants
fling my nimbusnimble little brother from their backs
as he falls I catch him as he crashes haul him in
splendorous splashes drench our chilly skin
then the evening phoenix in a flare of flames proclaims
the dragons are coming the dragons are dipping
to sip the sinking sun yes the dragons have come
to spit *F*I*R*E*W*O*R*K*S*
when did my disappointments disappear?
never mind the planes and where they go
imagination and the wind can blow
a window holiday right here
This poem is copyright (©) Catherine Olver 2024
About the Writer
Catherine Olver
Catherine loves writing poetry for children and teens. Her poems often celebrate how we humans can notice, respect and enjoy nature, or explore LGBTQIA+ experiences. As an academic, Catherine discusses environmental ideas in other writers’ poems and fantasy books, after earning a PhD at the University of Cambridge. You’ll find her wandering X and Instagram @the_wordwoods, or discover more of her poetry here: https://catherineolver.co.uk