<img src="finders-keepers-banner.jpg" style="width: 60vw;">
There were reports. Crackling through dead branches.
One of the rarest. Trademark footfall.
Seen once to know it was at all.
The napkin map.
The bacon rind.
The search begins.
What will you find?
[[Begin|Begin]]
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There has been no rain in weeks but some flowers
stick out their stamens anyway
<i>(bring it)</i>
Eyes out: flip flap? skukker? dart?
Ears back: chitter? rustle? buzz?
[[Flight no sound|Flight no sound]]
[[Flight and sound|Flight and sound]]
[[None of this fly on|None of this fly on]]
The fan flap
the dancing on strands
that wing wildly
and fling the tiny aeronaut
hey and yay against things
a rhythm a stress
a release and away
but is that
is that
the sun or the set
[[Dusk and this one|Dusk and this one]]
[[Sunlight reveal|Sunlight reveal]]
Above and all about I can not see
the trees with this sweet sound
a red band across my eyes
flash may I
singalong shuffle refocus
the sharp or the full song
who do we follow who do we shear
[[A low purr a community|A low purr a community]]
[[A cry! Further!|A cry! Further!]]
The pond is a crater
in your dreams. Today it is
shining but the level has dropped
rocked
dropped
Do you see a flash of silver?
Fatgut? Ribbonish? What now beneath the sun?
[[A clod of mica, flip and squat|A clod of mica, flip and squat]]
[[A whip of wet light|A whip of wet light]]
[[No none not|No none not]]
A bulk of scale
A thousand-scale
Not one, not a hundred
a cauldron of shimmers
I thought
I thought you were gone, sexy quest.
[[Show yourself|Show yourself]]
All of the seen: the frame of willows,
waterbound trampers, blippers, lilies,
sidenotes to this shuft of movement.
Sluiced from the reeds
in an ooze of splendour
squeezing round the meanders, he?
[[Yes, show!|Yes, show!]]
Sand in its colony, silt in its squat
Your paintbrush and trowel parting, cleaning,
opening countless cousins of rock
that dance
that scatter
before your scalpel.
Unmeasured history, layers of life
and there, laid out like a reptile Rameses...
[[What? What?|What? What?]]
//“That I, a protruding tooth, am sent all the way back
to my chain of islands, one gigantic empty nest.”//
Congratulations! You have found the ''Diprotodon''!
<img src="diprotodon.jpg">
''Fact:'' The diprotodon was the biggest marsupial ever to have lived. It was hunted to extinction by our ancestors around 44,000 years ago.
<img src="finderskeeperscover.png">
<a href="http://www.sidekickbooks.com/finderskeepers.php/"><i>Finders Keepers</i></a>, by Harry Man and Sophie Gainsley, is available now from Sidekick Books.''
<a href="http://sidekickbooks.com/playpoems/lost-species/LostSpecies.html">Play again</a>
<a href="http://www.sidekickbooks.blogspot.com/">Return to the Sidekick blog</a>
//“In clear waters the river lamprey stack stones
like the men at war they never became...”//
Congratulations! You have found the ''River Lamprey''!
<img src="riverlamprey.jpg" style="height: 30vw;">
''Fact:'' Lampreys predate the dinosaurs by almost 200 million years.
<img src="finderskeeperscover.png">
<a href="http://www.sidekickbooks.com/finderskeepers.php/"><i>Finders Keepers</i></a>, by Harry Man and Sophie Gainsley, is available now from Sidekick Books.''
<a href="http://sidekickbooks.com/playpoems/lost-species/LostSpecies.html">Play again</a>
<a href="http://www.sidekickbooks.blogspot.com/">Return to the Sidekick blog</a>
//“You bring the North Sea,
A tern's hunt, a fingerful of horizon...”//
Congratulations! You have found the ''Atlantic Salmon''!
<img src="atlanticsalmon.jpg" style="height: 30vw;">
''Fact:'' Farmed salmon can live in cages with 70,000 other individuals, and illness plus escape is threatening their species in the wild. For information on buying sustainable salmon, visit the <a href="http://www.atlanticsalmontrust.org">Atlantic Salmon Trust</a> website.
<img src="finderskeeperscover.png">
<a href="http://www.sidekickbooks.com/finderskeepers.php/"><i>Finders Keepers</i></a>, by Harry Man and Sophie Gainsley, is available now from Sidekick Books.''
<a href="http://sidekickbooks.com/playpoems/lost-species/LostSpecies.html">Play again</a>
<a href="http://www.sidekickbooks.blogspot.com/">Return to the Sidekick blog</a>
What does he say
what does he mean
what does he mine
can he be mine
where is his home
where is his food
how is the poison
can I save him
[[See his physics|See his physics]]
A rag of sea in a rockpool
how did we get here
or here
and whose trident pressed
into the beach
has made these tracks
whose arc is wind and salt
and silence but this
[[Look! Look quickly!|Look! Look quickly!]]
//“tough-meadower
fall-crester...”//
Congratulations! You have found the ''Oak Mining Bee''!
<img src="oakminingbee.jpg" style="height: 30vw;">
''Fact:'' The oak mining bee has no hive, and is not a social bee. It devotes its life to the oaks from which it takes its name.
<img src="finderskeeperscover.png">
<a href="http://www.sidekickbooks.com/finderskeepers.php/"><i>Finders Keepers</i></a>, by Harry Man and Sophie Gainsley, is available now from Sidekick Books.''
<a href="http://sidekickbooks.com/playpoems/lost-species/LostSpecies.html">Play again</a>
<a href="http://www.sidekickbooks.blogspot.com/">Return to the Sidekick blog</a>
//“after dunlins - so many
white bellies constellate along the water's
jogged mirror...”//
Congratulations! You have found the ''Dunlin''!
<img src="dunlin.jpg" style="height: 30vw;">
''Fact:'' The dunlin itself is not endangered, though it inhabits saltmarshes, which are critically threatened habitats.
<img src="finderskeeperscover.png">
<a href="http://www.sidekickbooks.com/finderskeepers.php/"><i>Finders Keepers</i></a>, by Harry Man and Sophie Gainsley, is available now from Sidekick Books.''
<a href="http://sidekickbooks.com/playpoems/lost-species/LostSpecies.html">Play again</a>
<a href="http://www.sidekickbooks.blogspot.com/">Return to the Sidekick blog</a>
Always away
hyp hyp
swing round the stack
and make a rip on the sky
its angry reds
its looming blue
before nightfall
oh juicy glomp
[[What is this leatherwing thing?]]
Sliding doors on back
lay down
and soak the sun
you star
you brown smuggles blue
your coat of dust and pollen
a story
a path
we are returning said this
[[What is this paperwing thing?]]
//“Up with the birds, down with the kids,
halfway through the best of the violets...”//
Congratulations! You have found the ''High Brown Fritillary''!
<img src="highbrownfritillary.jpg" style="height: 30vw;">
''Fact:'' After a 96% decline, careful land management has helped this little butterfly's population grow by 180%.
<img src="finderskeeperscover.png">
<a href="http://www.sidekickbooks.com/finderskeepers.php/"><i>Finders Keepers</i></a>, by Harry Man and Sophie Gainsley, is available now from Sidekick Books.''
<a href="http://sidekickbooks.com/playpoems/lost-species/LostSpecies.html">Play again</a>
<a href="http://www.sidekickbooks.blogspot.com/">Return to the Sidekick blog</a>
//“Imagine being one kissing-quiet bat
what you could visualise; weigh each word...”//
Congratulations! You have found the ''Common Pipistrelle Bat''!
<img src="commonpipistrelle.jpg" style="height: 30vw;">
''Fact:'' Bats make up 20% of the Earth's mammals. To find out more about bats, visit the <a href="http://www.bats.org.uk"Bat Conservation Trust</a> website.
<img src="finderskeeperscover.png">
<a href="http://www.sidekickbooks.com/finderskeepers.php/"><i>Finders Keepers</i></a>, by Harry Man and Sophie Gainsley, is available now from Sidekick Books.''
<a href="http://sidekickbooks.com/playpoems/lost-species/LostSpecies.html">Play again</a>
<a href="http://www.sidekickbooks.blogspot.com/">Return to the Sidekick blog</a>