I can’t leave a room like you can so no-one notices. i soil the moment blow the candle b/ween us when i’m speaking. no-one hates me not ever. i could step on shit, walk it on the carpet & it wouldn’t matter. i’m only 50 & my cousin’s son is dead…
I am an Island
Locked in – Remembering passwords – Delegating them to my frontal lobe – Chemical invasion – What’s the occasion? I am an island – forced into social isolation – I will be safe… I am an island – Stay at home Mums will have their fun working from home – Stock up the gin –…
Aias
Aias One of the heroes of Homer’s Iliad, known more by the Latin form of his name, Ajax, whose shield was even layers of hide capped with one of bronze. when we woke where the square of hours leaned into five, the tide, placed offering of calm, the earth’s arm in dark sleeve stayed at…
freedom
commit me. i need like a bird needs the sky to be held, cut short it hurts like & so i say, for instance, let the horses go; dogs also. i’m not ready but i’ve sunk my fists in the vanity & not looked at the mirror. heard between my ears…
Creeping Determinism
Drinking hand sanitiser by the cough full. Building a bunker brick boxes of tissues. Not my fault you didn’t stock up sooner. Couldn’t you see it coming? Televised ring side fights over 4-ply. Those reality TV guys saw it coming. Social Distancing Media screaming Of course we should have closed the borders…
christ
you’re crazy. there is no was no never will be no will no big bang; destiny. the end beginning. prayer is necessary; religion. the uplifting of morals; the Cross & Its demolition. i don’t fear it. uplifted; nailed, held fast. an example. the Press were beastly about it & One…
Karma
Some things I can’t put on paper. Can’t won’t. Things I’ve done. Things done. Things undone. Things done unto me. Object subject ive and vice versa verse of vice Karma’s a bitch. Made a bitch outa me.
slow march in the underworld
love your neighbour as you love yourself. be not given to. do not harbour bitterness & do not say unto me for instance i have fallen hard times & why should misfortune befall me. be spare. back yourself to say nothing & mean it. condescend to relieve yourself of feeling…
Jaraper
caution: contains licentious suggestive imagery Years before the adult animated cartoon series: Big Mouth, with its Hormone Monsters ill-advising, mostly, the cusping pubescences of teenagers, I wrote this poem. The sliding door could be pushed a little extra until a gap, an undetectable slither gave enough to see in to the shower and bath….
leavings
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…