The Unicorn (Encore)

White as a milkworm dipped in that infernal moondust

Tongue lapping the lip

Of a clay pitcher

Mulberry mouth resting in the elbow-crook of tomorrow.

Heavenly pastry: sugar-dipped hooves and he never goes stale.

But you can only break bread.

(Try it with cake and it's off with your head.)

Leave him in the sun for his frosting coat to melt.

That should teach him a lesson

(Don't paint the white roads red.)

He'd like to see himself from behind the glass

But the reflection has caught the light in its net, set just

above the loam should the trapezist grow faint

And topple, like a felled knight:

"Checkmate."

And here comes the soliloquy of the stage-actor

Gripping the skull like a steering wheel.

We fumbled the gaze while you were speaking and I

almost dropped my glove.

A crystal-coloured eye rolled across the hardwood

Tinny sound like a music box as it turned over and over

He slipped on it and cracked heads.

The white blood pooled like

Some new glittering humour

A snow globe knocked from a shelf

He squirms on the floor now

The groveling jester

The pathetic fruitcake

Spooked and slivered in acrobat's knots

I'll sweep him up in the morning.

Outcomes