American Flamingos, Canada, 2008, by Gordon Meade

Flamingos and a Red-breasted Goose with a Mural at a Zoo in Canada, photograph by Jo-Anne McArthur (USA) Zoocheck/We Animals, 2008. Click on image to learn more about We Animals.

American Flamingos, Canada, 2008

There are five of us here,
gathered around a feeding
station, in front of a mural.

There are five of us here,
gathered around a feeding
station, in front of a mural,
on which are painted five more.

There are five of us here,
gathered around a feeding
station, in front of a mural,
on which are painted five more
of us in different poses.

There are five of us here,
gathered around a feeding
station, in front of a mural,
on which are painted five more
of us in different poses;
one drinking, another preening.

There are five of us here,
gathered around a feeding
station, in front of a mural,
on which are painted five more
of us in different poses;
one drinking, another preening,
one looking as bored as we are.

There are five of us here,
gathered around a feeding
station, in front of a mural,
on which are painted five more
of us in different poses;
one drinking, another preening,
one looking as bored as we are,
another partly hidden by foliage.

There are five of us here,
gathered around a feeding
station, in front of a mural,
on which are painted five more
of us in different poses;
one drinking, another preening,
one looking as bored as we are,
another partly hidden by foliage,
and one, just one, preparing to fly.

Gordon Meade

​Gordon Meade is a Scottish poet based in the East Neuk of Fife. He divides his time between his own writing and developing creative writing courses for vulnerable people in a variety of settings. His most recent collection, The Year of the Crab, a poetic exploration of the diagnosis and early treatment of cancer, was published in 2017, by Cultured Llama Publishing in Kent.