We are like foolish children

finding names for shapes.

This one looks like a tadpole

in a pear-shaped pond,

and here is a castle

and a butterfly.

Did he look through a microscope

for bacillus coli rods,

and what is that red dot

doing there on the outer rim

of the world? Someone

sees a shin bone.

Be serious; this is art,

his life's work, and we are

outmoded in the way

we try to see a womb,

a hole in the wall,

and, yes, a boiled egg.

If we were younger he would

rap us over the knuckles

for talking in the back row.

When he leaves, he looks,

we think, a little distrait,

and abstracted.

• From Appetites of Love by Elizabeth Bartlett. Published by Bloodaxe Books, price £7.95