Poetry 25 November 2020 The NS Poem: Mechanical birds A new poem by John Porter. Getty Sign UpGet the New Statesman\'s Morning Call email. Sign-up My garden is full of mechanical birds they flutter freely build real nests, splatter synthetic shit with abandon. The feathers are painted by gifted interns paid nothing but allowed to hold a bird once a week. I track the flock on my phone until tapping the screen brings them back to my shed where I pull apart wires, break fragile necks, watch the light fade, then in the morning solder the world together again. John Porter is a poet based in Gloucestershire. His work has appeared in publications including "The Stinging Fly", "Prole" and "Strix". › Rishi Sunak made the right calls on jobs and the furlough scheme. But is his luck about to run out? This article appears in the 27 November 2020 issue of the New Statesman, The last days of Trump