I have lost my tail.

As bereft as that small blue donkey

with rolling eyes and world on hoof

demeanour, my tail, never truly secure

with that pin in my arse and a body

that people mistake for a piñata, knock the stuffing out

of me and in their eyes they see

sweets and papers fall to the floor,

not seeing the illusion that they

have kicked the guts out of me;

is it any wonder I have lost my tail

and the voice of slow desperation