MORNING POP

i 

wake 

in 

that
familiar fugly unfunk

sickness rebooted

&

dream fringes lurking -

baby in a matchbox / a car came thru the wall

lets leave that there

~

 

a Box of Rain is dancing in my ears
& 

again

once i made it there

i thank o holy whofuckingever
for shower technology
for water itself

&

the thick black coffee

waiting by the glass typer

hoping my fingers

will talk to

my mind today

photo Coffee Again from the Dagenham Archive

INSTRUCTION & OBSERVATION MASHED UP POEM TWOFER

we must never look away

she had a red coat
she had a red book

we shall be witness
if we shall be anything

its a bible
i am on a bus

the respect in our hearts
struggles out our mouths

theres heavy underlining
on all her open pages

action is another story

photo - Red Smudge No 11 from the Dagenham Archive

SO WHAT REDUX

no one walks into an alley 

like this alley

not here 
not tonight

not in this part of town

sky forbids stars

traffic is hushed

well lit here but so what ?

rot spreads

~

painted words on cement wall

harsh & illiterate

faded & true

but so what ?

mutants & sheep

& under my boots ? 

the busted plastic corners

of a busted music cassette

~

magnetic tape 
giddy

sleek

brown

un-spools into the shape of wind

that takes me back 
oh yes 

but so what ?

theyre coming back too

~

got a length of pipe 

might be lead

like in cluedo
who knows ?

its all i need

metal gets it done

smoke butt after butt

perfect moreish poison

wait

just drag it out

like we all do

~

yesterdays papers
panic flapping & trapped 
caught between the wind & a hard place

obits make the front page everyday

& i feel like 
we say goodbye

to the 20th C day by bastard day

but so what ?

thin sliced meat

~

throw my butt like i hate it

edge my boots 
into 
the 
dirty white light

feels like a movie

& vice versa

but so what ?

its all spam

in the meat world

photo Reaching from the Dagenham Archive

DELIRIUM TAPAS VOL 13

royal family -

turn yourselves OFF

then ON again

might help

or might chew you up like magnetic tape

ha

like throat lozenges

tack up

& dissolve in swallowed rain

~

a weatherman quit

cos the forecast was dreary

killers kill & bankers bank

& of course vice versa

politicians bodysurf in

on polished turd waves

& someone threw ducks

all dead

at the living vegans

~

i dreamt

my gloves have yindles

tinioned back 

from the wrist grip

& 

i hear sirens all the time

heading to those

who need them

photo - Fuzztown 8 Ball from the Dagenham Archive

DELIRIUM TAPAS VOL 12

 

so writing then-

pick your biscuits

out the selection box

make a dark world lighter
&
play in your foolish light

or . . .

well -

i leave the decisions to the decisive

& complain later

im about underthinking

& keeping it short

~

&
i file my reports in scribbled notes 

typed up here

when i can decipher their spider code

divine from them

theyre 

s c a t t e r e d 

like chicken bones

philosophy watches 

left there in the beach sand

& the waking belches of morning dew

photo - 43 of 11 from the Dagenham Archive

DELIRIUM TAPAS VOL 10

hard journey in soft progress

& the whip & the lash

of the rain & wind slash 

are a dream

ARE a dream ?

or a motivational tool

such a challenge

such a trial 

no - audition ! 

in this supermarket cotton cocoon

~

no high flying possible

in the crescent corner cutaway

until it is

& IT IS

in our lawn-wedge shipshape of home

flanked by arthurs

& small & angry dogs

~

& 

when i wake

i wake sure

so SURE

that i am opposite myself

waking on a sofa

where a sofa & i 

are not there

in

the 

dream mirror hiccup

of 

the 

long barleycorn exit

photo - Ships Bridge No 2 from the Dagenham Archive

DELIRIUM TAPAS VOL 11

me & sick friend

well

we compared symptoms

like twisted top trumps it was

tea stain

pee stain

on the tshirt shore

~


i hear neighbours dumb arriving

& i think HAND GRENADE

i hear news / see the sadness

& i think HAND GRENADE

& so on

curl round it / throw it / i dont know

they never even work out in video games

photo - Dumb Neighbours Probably (found photograph) from the Dagenham Archive

DELIRIUM TAPAS VOL 9

red book
black cat

stars on 45

i am under the sky - duh

reduxed

&
blackmailing
the
sunlit uplands
of
soul


~


the page is dry
is old

its turning sound
heard a hundred fold

pdsa paperbacks for one hundred pence

i enjoy its sepia
that reptile texture

its smell & telling told

photo - Six Fuzztown Stoplights from the Dagenham Archive

DELIRIUM TAPAS VOL 8

bbq for breakfast

24 beers a day

newmans daytona

auctioned off

on san franscico day


~

my duty
of dereliction

never neglected

uses word-salad toss-tongs

gone toxic with lithium now

hd 5g disney plus memes 

the controversial olives

photo - Hijacked Hero from the Dagenham Archive

ANALOG MATRIX

love is for poets
said the highlander

immortal in his analog matrix

like the tides
&
the cool blue salem moon

~

i wonder that russell nash

never saw tron 

in any timesquare cinegog

or on laserdisc

in his strange museum den 

photo - Rearview Mirror Deconstructed from the Dagenham Archive

MILK TRAIN SKY

jack stood in the surf
hands in a plastic bag
writing it down

would that he stood 

in the wifi wind
hands on the splashproof glass

might he burn iphones
ceremoniously
on the back yard bricks ?

an angel still falling
out the milk train sky

photo - Between tech & the Trees from the Dagenham Archive

TONIGHT & EVERYNIGHT

& then -

my dirty washing written down -

some block or fissure
must be on the mend
&
my soft bridge strengthened

for shelter travel & trade

at least 

thats the intent

~

& you know

if this was paper

it would be bonfire night

tonight & everynight

photo - Does Fire No 8 from the Dagenham Archive

ARTIC LENS FLARE

he tucked his bible in his waistband

& rolled on his side

rolled just the once

& died

on the grey plastic scree of the soundstage

in manufactured studio artic lens flare

photo - Maximum Flared from the Dagenham Archive

BIRDS CHIRP, UP THERE

its like when you need a piss
that hot ball

that space & need when you wake

its like that

but without any linked-in soft portal

its your barroom song

to dig in & catheter out

to chirp like a bird

at dawn & 4pm

they know the moon in the gutter
is the closest one 

photo Fuzztown Avions courtesy of the Dagenham Archive

BLOODY DISCHARGE

disaster 

capitalisms

compulsive

obsessive
seek & destroy

consumption
addiction

ignores its back-end discharge

i see the horror wake
creep up past its knees

bling in the liberty learjet

filched by a dentist

from a childs smuggling mouth

photo - Jet in the Fish Sky from the Dagenham Archive

DYSTOPIA DREAMING

maybe

just maybe maybe

we ARE all born genius

( i think this with rare 

  & uncharacteristic benevolence 

  maybe they put something 

  in the water today ? )

~

but its Life -

its e x p o s u r e
its hardwired fuckery

the rampant chemical ebb & flood

that so so quickly

subtracts us away

to meatbags & gristle

moaning in the morningpods

at technologys hiccups

&

the dirt 

we put

in the rain

photo - Commuting Channel No13 from the Dagenham Archive

HISTORY POP / RED HEAT

john foster dulles
ate candle wax

a pencil in his nose
his finger in his scotch

now che geuveras pants
they stood up on their own
he won that bet

fair & square

& all the dc ammo 

& all the foggy bottom tricks
couldnt make them lay down again

photo - Disrupted Scaffold / Uncertain Support from the Dagenham Archive

PILL BOX POP No89

 

if you just love yourself first

it all

seems like ordinary cake

 

even

art

adventure

treasure

theirs is a party without perspective 

hold tight, my uncurious darlings

now is composed of beautiful chaos

& flying shits

 

PILL BOX POP No149

when you cant see the good

& nothing is sure

& every party is just a meeting

 

beautiful self

remember to play

& photograph

& commemorate

childsmitten

with

dream instinct

&

just because

STOLE OURSELVES

 

the clock thuds

fekking lump hammer on my anvil skull

anvil ?

fekking salmonella eggshell

but its not its fault -

i put the battery in it
like i can measure time

our arrogance !
mine . . .

do the clocks thud like this
across town ?

taking
taking
taking

everybodys lovetime away


~

countdown & reminder

black choppers incoming

failing plumbing

the clock thuds 

thud thud thud

deaths footfalls - ha !

why not ?

or
just

another

reductive
machine

we stole ourselves with

photo Widescreen Rooftop Blues courtesy of the Dagenham Archive

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY

  if
  i
listened to my body

listened to its 

  wail & warp & whine

listened to its 

  white noise telegraph

 

& its desperate morse

  click-clacking in my dry bones grind

like they say that you should do

then

i 

would be sleeping

  or drifting in the inbetween

on the toilet

  but imagining a starship command chair

eating carbs

  

  but hounded by light salad sanity

tickertape headline news 

  on the bog sheets roll

amateurly sculpting

  unconsciously phallic art

  with 

  my

  toes

  & 

  cheap modelling clay

lightly opiated to soft kingdom come

photo - Simple Street Deconstructed, courtesy of the Dagenham Archive

PILL BOX POP No65

 

&

in

a

circus

that generously

gives

sparkle monkeys

 

brave wings

&

extraordinary

things

to

just

breath

 

 

takes

a

dream of courage