Downtime

In this 'Downtime' section, Ariadne staff offer some poetry and cartoons for the entertainment of readers. 

First, a spot of poetry...

THE HIEROGLYPH
Jill Bamber

Our highways cut across
important pathways.
Last night I heard some wild geese
flying over
searching for open water
on the outskirts.
Suburban hedgehogs rip
our dustbin bags
and hibernate beneath
the garden shed.

Posting a letter
in the nearest box
I saw a green transfixion
on the road.
The frog was nearly home
a little tired
after the April spawning
in the pond.
Last week I saw them floating
among lily pads
paired in a long glut
of other couplings.

His hands were still grass-green
transparencies,
their fan-like webs spread out
on the hard road.
The grin, dragged down one side
was almost there.

I had to pass him twice
where paths had crossed.
Soon it will rain
and wash him down the gutter
or else the hieroglyph
his body makes
will have been carried off
between tyre treads
fitting their zig-zag pattem
noiselessly.

This poem appears in the Web magazine Living Poets , Volume 1, Number III, February 1995. It is reprinted by permission of the editor.

Campbell wryly gives us his slant on the effects of the recently signed US telecommunication bill.