London Suite VII: Bushy Park, Teddington

here lies a tameness
that hasn’t known wild long since the last
wolf and oak were sewn
into the bearers and joists
of Hampton Court

even the deer have gone to seed
vestiges of the hunted
almost a want
in the staccato movements
head up, ear twitch
to see the bear in the cyclist

azaleas garden sweet spring-sprung
chestnut stands uncoppiced, unblighted by gall wasps
king-fit to my right a line of poplars
three with a space
for a fourth
grass is raked free of all but a duck’s feather
sky powdered celeste

boredom borders this predictability i lived
it and left for viney things that tangle my ankles
tongue trip me, sticky, tick-ridden
my nose tunes for something feral
reminders sings in the leaves here