My dad sometimes ran madly
through the streets of our little town
shouting “Gandalf, Gandalf!”
As he passed the pet shop the resident mynah bird
mocked back at him “Gandalf, Gandalf”
though the open windows of summer.
There he was on a corner waiting,
Gandalf himself with his big brown eyes
his long white hair and thick coat
one wood pigeon hanging limp
inside his jaws
our dog, Gandalf the grey.
Marie-Louise received her MFA in 2020. Her poems can be found in Poetry News (winner of Summer 21 competition “The Lesser Loss”), Stand, Agenda, Portland Review & competition anthologies for the Bridport, Live Canon and Ginkgo AONG prizes. From the UK she lives in the US.