Foot and Mouth on World Book Day

Foot and Mouth on World Book Day

In class many years ago the teacher
set an essay 'what is the future of coal?'

He received one answer which simply
read

Smoke

Today in closed fields farmers watch
pyres of dead meat sting hard eyes
wet with tears.

This is their business, livelihood, the
'Gerronthere, move, move, whoah'
led to milking each day gone up in smoke.

The smell is terrible.

Sorry: that may cause you to gag.
It's a different kind of stress from being stuck
in a fast air-con/full-on car behind a tractor.
Today there are no tractors on the roads
to prevent you going where you want to go.

They cannot leave.
Quarantined to prevent the smoke
spreading throughout the country,
eyes red, they choke
on feelings they have no words for.

They spread, like the disease
and the smoke, on the wind.