Something's gone missing from Bulwell
for stealing and causing affray
the starlings are banned from the district
they've followed the Leen far away
Anti social behaviour orders
for every starling in sight
preventing their fly-by-posting
and stopping their sweet wrapper fights
It's a bit of a test case they reckon
followed by all in the land,
especially by seagulls in Newquay
for whom something similar's planned.
So starlings that once lined the rooftops
looking like knots in a string
are exchanged for satellite dishes
and towers for CCTV.
there's an end to their feathery glisten,
like rainbows in patches of oil
and now there's no more of their thieving
of milk tops and bits of tin foil
They've hosed down the streaky graffiti
from bus stops around Bulwell Bogs
and from Main Street up to the Monkey,
you'll only see pigeons and dogs.
There's some who miss their marauding
under tables so daring and so fast
and a few are beginning to question
just how long an ASBO can last.
There's whistles and clicks above Iceland
rustling low down in the trees
there've been shadows flickering downwards
in ones and twos and threes.
As the market vans get set to go,
stall holders ready to leave,
the starlings of Bulwell come home again
returning by stealth, by degrees.
© Rosie Garner
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