Poem of the month

selected by David Underdown

Mending The Helicopter

by Robert Crawford

I’m too busy mending the helicopter

To wash up yesterday’s dishes.

I’m too busy mending the helicopter

To pick up the kids from school.

I’m too busy mending the helicopter

To talk to your doctor about my cigarettes.

I’m too busy mending the helicopter.

I’ll have to work through the night with arc lights.

Who do you think I’m mending this helicopter for.

Reply

I’ve already mended the helicopter.

Leave those rotorblade sprockets alone.

I’ve already mended the helicopter

While you were watching Apocalypse Now.

I’ve already mended the helicopter

It needed mending. Radar was a terrible mess.

I’ve already mended the helicopter

Why are you out there at night on the lawn

Taking the whole thing to bits?

David writes:

This poem from Robert Crawford’s fourth collection, ‘Masculinity’ (Cape 1996), still makes me laugh out loud. I suspect it may resonate with anyone who has experience of life in a household of individuals with different but sometimes overlapping roles! One of Scotland’s leading poets, Robert Crawford teaches at St Andrews University. For anyone wanting to read more of his work Cape Poetry publishes a splendid volume of his Selected Poems.