Whatever Happened To Fay Wray?

No one wants to fall
from the tallest building
in the world
but the journey down
sure gives you time to think

Broke nearly every bone
in my body – damn near died
took a year just to walk again
still, Time’s a great healer
Ma said, before she passed

Bullet holes closed up
but I got smaller inside
folks think cos you’re big
you’re strong
it ain’t the same thing

Couldn’t hold down
no job for a long time
not till TV came to town
but no way was I goin’
back in front of the cameras

I shoot doc-u-ment-aries now
not the people type –
sad fuckers in a trailer park
but dumb animals –
sad fuckers in a national park

Same story every time
but stressy folks lap it up
I just change the players
change the places
tell it forwards, tell it sideways

It’s all about sleight of hand
what really happens don’t matter
it’s what they want to see
what matters, and one thing
I’ve always been good at

is a side show.

Dominic Weston produces wildlife television programmes, runs over the Mendip hills and writes poetry. His work often relates to family or the natural world, undercut by a healthy slick of darkness. His poems have appeared in Agenda, Black Bough Poetry, Magma, The North, Under the Radar and many other publications.