EWEN GLASS

Chelonoidis Carbonaria / Red-Footed Tortoise

His face a collage around black eyes. 
Shares of autumn titivate legs, 
but there’s warning in his dropped tail 
so I set him down. He shits on bark. 
Unchanged for a hundred million years, 
his family knew dinosaurs. 
I know Microsoft Teams. 
Moments borrowed between meetings 
keep us in touch, he with history, 
me with maintenance, 
and I evangelise often to friends: 
in scientific experiments, tortoises learn 
to use touchscreens faster than dogs . 
Or grandparents ha ha. 
He took a chunk out of my big toe once; 
if it wasn’t a strawberry before, it was after. 
He buries his face in a piece of watermelon,
adding yet more colour to his face. 
As the sun appears I do it – 
I push my scheduled meeting out of the way –
and take him outside to bask, 
both of us to bask.