Laid Bare and Anyways

Nature isn’t ever bare 

There’s always something left 

Snow coating twigs 

Ice in teary goodbyes 

Caught in time and stuck 

Duck at the Park: Nicla Byrnes 

Like glue on 

The branches of yesterday. 

Nature is downy and warm too 

On the coat of a brave grizzly 

Or the feathers of a dapper 

Looking duck.

The clothes of a mountain 

Are grassy or wrapped in ocean 

Skirts or covered in bursts of 

Flowered fertilisations.

You can stick your skin up 

To a camera, lay it bare 

Get your kit out –

Whatever they say. 

Make a character 

'Duck in the Water " Nicla Byrnes 

Out of bodies. 

Shock people 

Get a reaction…

Insides got all the 

Intricate stuff

Anyways. 

It’s all been done before 

All that. 

Is it liberating to take your clothes off 

For everyone?

Is it liberating to wear something 

To make a statement?

Yeah, sometimes but mostly 

It’s more liberating just 

To see all the coatings 

Of nature 

Even though

It sounds real

Twee and all that. 

And the way it all ticks 

To the beat of love.  

Nature isn’t ever bare 

Neither are people 

Not on the inside

Anyways. 

You can compare outside bodies 

Like a used car sales person

Might but the engines 

Got the beautiful gear 

Anyways. 

Yeah I bought

Some Datsuns

A long time ago 

As gifts, bright sunny yellow 

or sky blue

Because I was thinking 

Of nature’s coatings and engines 

And memories

And people and love

Not statements or 

Goodbyes or not 

Good enough,

Not upgrading

Or impressing 

Or making a grand hullabaloo. 

Nature isn’t ever bare 

It’s just so gorgeous, 

Like people in 

All their funny and beautiful ways. 

Anyways, that’s how I 

Feel.