STRANGE DUCKLING

he
had
a
vague housekeeper role
in
the 
itu

shuffling about in there
like he was hobbled

or had a shard up his arse

maybe of glass
and he was scared
to break it

~

he lurked
touchy-feely
on the periphery

weak clinging hands
flopping like flannels

his jokes were odd
delivered flat 
and misunderstood

he was unproductive
had an air of decay

he was labelled
all kinds of bad 
and unlikely things

and
easily
hounded out

the poor fucking
strange duckling

theres no give 
in the graded land 
of uniform geese

~

i saw him today
in the car park
underneath asda

he was moving maybe
12 feet a minute
in
a
hi-vis vest
weakly and oddly and awkwardly
waving
a
broom
up at the cobwebs
on the concrete ceiling

he pushed a plastic cart
looked at me
looked away
looked at me
looked away

empty
aimless
slow
broken
lonely
and
colin 

from echo-news.co.uk

ENTROPY CALLING

these are 
tomorrows golden days

cos
everything 
falls apart

one way or another

despite velcro
cement and rebar
and 
our 
hungry clutching paws

and i cant always be a machine
when time goes bouncing
all
around
these indoor rooms

so today is next weeks
halcyon seaside dream

and
now
whats
this
thing
now 

coming always toward my eyes . . ?

from quora.com

OUT N ABOUT

PROOF OF CONCEPT

TELEGRAPH POLES

(INSTALLATION SUPERVISED 

BY GRANDPA DAGENHAM 

AN UNKNOWN NUMBER 

OF DECADES AGO)

WHITE NOISE

NATURE AHOY

GARDEN DAY

FOR PAGAN ACTIVITIES

ACCESSORIES AND FUEL FOR WASHING

DINNER

WOODEN ZEN POD

 NO ELECTRONICS (EXCEPTING DISCMANS) ALLOWED

STARBUCKS O CLOCK

teletubbies to the left of her
teletubbies to the right of her
into the valley of starbucks rode
an
old 
woman

skin like a party balloon
deflating 2 days later

and 
her
flat
brown
clothes
well shes like a wire coat hanger
inside
them

and ignorant
of the days
plectrum 
spectrum
beard parade
she 
mutters alone
to an empty cup

absorbed in the absence inbetween
where her 
niche life 
nestles 

from iheartberlin.be

AM I CEREAL OR AM I MOVIE ?

theres mostly
music ready
in my brainpan
when i wake

like auto soft synced 
with a jukebox cloud
when im birthed reformed
out of accelerating disaster
of gunshot phonebox dreams

today
the instrumental break from layla
rolls over on a fuzzy loop
and
i
call
that
a
win

like waking up omnipotent
teflon coated
alive in the roving eye
of a auteur movie

i am unbearded scorsese 
off to the pisser
and the coffee cups

~

this rhythmic tinnitus
its degrades 
into a questioning child
into a terminal orbit

and
layla
is
burnt up and dethroned 
by some horrible pop
with a laboratory hook 

that crept fangs 
into me
from
the
long
fat
days
universal radio

it turns me to cereal
bubble wrap
flat diet soda
or ron howard

from goodfellas

7 PM POPS

7PM

eating from a bag of chips
in a hillside graveyard

7pm

the dirt piled under the turf
creeps
up
the
ivy held walls

theres crumble cracks here
in turrets of pointed cement

and green has collected 
in the flakes
in the corners
of the iron gates

their seams thick and rounded
with a hundred weatherproof coats 

and i find a shallow step 
to sit on
to stretch on

awkward like i fell there

in the 1898 & 1924
headstone shadows
of 
a 
vacant church halls 
yellow window squares



SECRET

the high street is spread
like a map 
below me

and i feel like a secret

up high
eating alone

on ground fat
with the dead



FOXES

and i feel like
an invisible feeder
a retired predator
separate forever 

from the hatchback turnover

and i feel like this
to the baby wails
that night foxes cry
like angels who fell

and cannot climb home



LANDFILL

theyre somewhere off away behind me
on landfill that rolls 
under grass like felt

like muscles under cotton

off
into
the scrappy marsh of quicksands
and
twisting creeks of stranded boats

sat unnatural and stationary 
the colour of allotment sheds 

and dotted like beacons
are teenagers used up 

dirt bike 

skeletons

essex salt marsh from the air by terry whittaker 2020/vision/rex

ACID SHOCK OF MORTAL CALENDAR

if you lose rhythm

look for it

its behind the hangovers

behind the never-was

behind the to-do list of not-right-now

thats long as all your arms

and be careful where your eyes slide

find a gentle shrub

with a bird on

with no appointments looming

no doorbell to blast

or little beetles 

busy on the impossible leaves

ignorant of panama 

and the tabloid scream

so careful where your eyes slide

into that glass universe

of endless dark materials

you

can

be

shaken shook smashed

like by finding out for example

just for example 

that

Home Alone was released 

closer to the Moon Landing 

than to today

and youd throw up

in your mouth a little

and

think

but wait !

thats the rhythm 

right there

in the acid shock

of the

mortal calendar

and again youre the bungalow man

in bungalow land

you dont know where the bungalow ends

and

the

man

began

 

and ok

you think

ok

thats pissed me off enough

that i can do another day

from nydailynews.com

AUTUMN 2

AUTUMN 1

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD ORANGE

LONG STORY SHORT

i couldnt unlock
for the longest time

id swallowed my own key
and it was lodged
in my tremble belly 
where the blues played
in the butterfly farm

i
did
what 
passed
for 
living

crossing the troll bridge
bullseye on my back
every epic disaster day

but of course it all went sideways
i mean duh lol omg etc

but long story short
i
am
unlocked now

daytime egoless 
brimming with empathy
and diecast zen

butterflies now free range

i am open
loose even

loose enough
to
back
up
the
u bend
every single coffee morning

theres a backlog you see
high pressure 
from the 
farting breadline

and the impatience 
of the 40yr queue 
of shuffling chaff

the matrix

from extremetech.com

GLOVE # 3

INBOX SADNESS

after
six
months
off
sick

i made it back
to my nhs desk

where the welcome back cards
were as absent
as the get well cards had been

and my inbox 
was truly
a wonder to behold

~

there was fear in their eyes

like my incompetence was catching

and my frequent meetings in HR

like
a
rash

that could spread

~

i limped on for another six months
part time and useless
a leper to the union

till i was let go
with a £40 gift card
and a £50 debt
from a payday mistake

after
11 or 12
years

of being the best there ever was

~

tens of thousands unread
in that inbox 

maybe a record

i
deleted
the
lot
that same day

and it felt like i struck a blow

against
some
undefinable
something

~

being let go by the nhs ?
very hard to achieve

but i did it

and everytime i look out
any of my back windows
i can see the hospitals admin tower

a blunt beacon
over
the
autumn forest

and i wonder
in vanity

if
anyone
looks
over this way for me

at all

from linkedin.com

ALL G AND NOT ENOUGH P

got the first-stop dr on the phone 8 AM
cos
my
meds
are
making
me
sicker
under the clouds and moon

i dont know much about that at all
she says
and suggests
i tail them off slow

but tired of the itchy raving
at
3 AM
under the stars and black velvet
i
stop
cold
turkey

and make a physical appointment
with my current favourite gp

hoping
for
a
scrip
of
something old school
something that works
under the sun and the buffed cotton wool

but wisely preparing 
for eventual disappointment
too
under the google search and the science wall

aware id prob 
have to pick
a new favourite gp
afterward
under the receptionists knowing frown

and wisely prepare
for more eventual disappointment
with
them
as well
under the freebies and the cost constraints

theyre all g
and not enough p
under a streamlined zodiac
and a time machines stuck loop

from sott.net