30/11 your death makes the news like a number. something that might happen & does 1/12 for real. 3/12 praise is bad for the artist & blame. especially praise. but praise is good for people. we need encouragement. 4/12 the poet is the Jehovah Witness of the art world. they want…
la fine dell’amore
He was sworn against divorce, While she had had two marriages already. They were together for only eight years. In his seventh decade he gave her a scooter. She accepted, and rode around on it, Through the mountain roads of Italy, Floral dress, light shoes, Half-dome helmet, no lipstick. Just like in a festival film!…
mortification (at the beach)
deny completely, wholeheartedly strenuously. it happens. i mean it never happened absolutely it did – i swear (such indolence is blissful lie w it transpires effectively ending the Resistance. not that it’s war. god- gotten outta hand a- drift still flesh face down. was heading for the beach when & if i…
Milk & Worry
Like the Dad in the Meadowfresh commercial. His daughter off to the dairy by herself. Daddy’s girl. To buy the milk from the friendly dairy owner. All Chinese kids are good at maths and are probably carrying Coronavirus and dairy owners are compulsorily Indian-looking and probably expert at IT. I wish I was that clever…
go dark or go home
What do violets do, chrysanthemum & roses when you’re gone, dreaming long light shadows on the grass, the dog star high & lonely? I found love from the prison of my days her cold arms. We Catholics have Aquinas, are rational. The protestant founders on empirical grounds. The eyes close, whiteness holds the…
the sea be rosewater
the sea be rosewater in memoriam of Manos, patron of the arts, you shared your laughter, sail in peace beijing july 2009 Manos Pazianos, owner of the Aegean Arthouse Cafe in Beijing died suddenly two weeks ago; his dream of a white mediterranean square in this dusty circle is gone. These words are my tribute…
Earthquake
The sun is finally here and it seems summer is done. The birds ate all my tomatoes and most of my plums. Cherries long gone. School’s back next week. Summer is done. School’s back with stationery and notices for sports and the bus. Fundraising baking. No more Lucky Book Club. It feels like earthquake weather….
Stitched Up
Who am I? Knocking on the … Devil’s door? Angel with – Damaged wings – Piggy in the middle – Wearing my grandmother’s slippers – Playing –Tit for Tat – Or am I merely… the prisoner – Gagged and bound – Pinned up against the wall? Screaming out – for Salvation – Who am I?…
Out of Order
We sit on balconies – Watch life flash by – Wind flickers – Red curtain waves – Red fire alarm sits beside door – Break glass – Operate switch – Create disaster… I wear a sign around my neck – “Out of Order” I promise myself that I will always swim – Never drown –…
liberate us from the tyranny of the useful
the dishwasher sings bliss oh doors swing polished floors violin bar chords mostly the xylophone incidentally on a soundtrack some rudimentary cartoon; wilfully simple. don’t do what i have done shot pool w drunks in the House, pissed on the velvet green to mark my territory, draw the curtain of sleep o horror &…
at the Victoria flower garden
the tulips gay serenade the highway, slip contiguous w hiss, my pathways. it’s an idea – fixe: it fits my circumstance- s, the mood i’m in – days roll the sky & this is what eternity is what it feels when hands come together. shoot my mouth off but i’m not…
PreReversion
I’d been using tasteless opioid downers for painting abstracts and when they ran out I extracted the poppy from the pain -killer, the power from the -cetamol and the spoon almost stands in the coffee. So when I picked up one of his books, a posthumous reissue from the enviable place of continuous readership it…