Cornflakes

You know when all your cereal boxes are half full,
Or when you’re trying to save your favourite one,
And you fill your bowl

half with wholegrain whatever

a third with something sugary

and add the last few bits of a boring brand.

Well, I tried to do that
but my cornflakes floated to the top
so I had to eat those first.

Underneath I found the shreddies
and was all set to munch through a load of knitted rectangles
to make my way to the best kind.

But I chomped mush for hours on end
and it didn’t seem to decrease.

Each shreddie absorbed more milk
and they grew so large
I couldn’t fit a whole one in at once,
And I couldn’t find my favourite kind;

The cocopops weren’t there,
Though I knew I’d put them in,

and my bowl seemed very bland

and I longed for some sweetness

but also for the basic simplicity
of those cornflakes I rushed through.