The Village of Twee
I am just arrived in the village of Twee
with its little front gardens carefully wild,
with its thatch nicely polished,
its flowers dust free.
I wonder who tends them
in the village of Twee.
Who shampoos the pinks
who waters the pots,
who sweeps up the leaves
and prunes all the phlox.
There’s no humans to see
in the village of Twee,
just cars with their robots,
red, white and pink.
They wave as they drive through
with shopping piled high
singing ‘tra lah lah, welcome and fiddle di di.
There’s a welcome for all in the village of Twee.’
They park right outside,
with the pavements long gone
to give wider roads for motoring robots.
So how did it happen, this robotic coup.
There must be a story or legend to tell
to explain the strange culture I came across there.
Well, pavements weren't needed
with no humans to walk
and that’s how it started
if truth it be told.
And it’s ‘tra lah lah, welcome and fiddle di di’
as the robots drive smiling through the village of Twee.
So are there still humans?
I've heard they're indoors
their legs long since wasted,
they're unable to walk.
So the robots took over
and they do what they can
to keep the thatch polished
and dig up the weeds,
to feed all that need it
and take out the waste.
And when work is finished their day will come,
when new robots grow older, they can move on.
Singing ‘tra lah lah, bye now and fiddle di di,
there’ll be no more humans in the village of Twee’
First published in Pillcrow and Dagger, October 2016 (1st edit)
Hospital Poems
First they banned flowers.
Unhygienic, you see.
Unsafe.
With their smells
and susceptibility
to spillages
so people brought poems
to hospitals.
Then there was a pandemic.
And people were banned.
No visiting allowed
Unhygienic, you see.
Unsafe
with their smells
and susceptibility
to carry infection
so robots brought the poems
to hospitals.
Now things have moved on,
progress, you see.
Now robots write the poems
they bring to hospitals.
Soon people won’t notice
the difference.
Soon people won’t remember
the difference.
First published in Brave and Reckless, December 10 2023
Evolution
It seems that animals,
the cows and sheep and pigs
are getting smaller.
And they’re feral now
eating everything including humans.
It’s unavoidable when humans are so small,
small as microbes and therefore invisible to them.
It seems that birds are getting larger,
so while chickens still live
in the houses
that humans built
they need bigger houses
that birds are so enormous
patrolling the sky
like gigantic robots
at their will.
First published in Truly Unique October 2019
Frankie’s Creation
It was a childhood hobby
carried out first
on the kitchen table
then in his room,
his shed,
his workshop.
He left childhood behind
but never moved on from his hobby.
Meccano and Leggo had their time
but Frankie left them behind
and began his collection
of bits and pieces
that might be useful
a bit of wood or metal,
plastic, nails, screws, rivets, wire,
Frankie kept them all
for his creations
his men and machines.
The boats and planes and trains
had had their time long ago.
Now it was the human form for him,
not the outer veneer
but what lies under the skin.
He studied the complex joints
and carefully fitted their metal muscles
and wired them with nerve-like fibres.
All that was needed now was the skin.
Carefully Frankie began to put it in place.
Soon his creation would raise its head
and open its eyes,
then it would be ready,
ready to go.
First published in Visual Verse, July 2019
Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy and reality. She has been nominated for Pushcarts, Best of the Net and a Rhysling Award.
https://lynnwhitepoetry.blogspot.com and
https://www.facebook.com/Lynn-White-Poetry-1603675983213077/
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