CIGARETTES OVER HOCKENHEIM

the stoned rosy haze

    in seaside air at dusk

the bright night eyes 

    mad with light like stars 

the cigarettes over hockenheim

the dead boots in the festival mire

the noon tequila in sohos soul

& the 2 AM

    small town 

        stark bowl of sky

  are   my   screen   burn

DIAL THAT GOODTIME NUMBER

algorithm
prism fibs
fight proxy
in
the
meat world

dial that goodtime number today

if youre gonna

before the dirt 

is flat & packed

tank-track solid

& no rot can reach

natures carrion nose

thru 

the 

meltdown plastic shroud

IN THE COMING OF AGE INDIE FLICKS

i like the self-awareness

  & the rude honesty 

  of their pop metaphors

i like the way they dress
  the knits under hoodies 

  & their impossible t-shirts

i like the small town freedom

  the existential bubbles

  & fun in the hospital moments

i like seeing 

  their baby wings bloom 

  all innocent-wise

in the coming-of-age indie flicks

with high school only a back pocket stub

GUILT IS IN THE EYE OF THE SHAREHOLDER

'rolling just to keep on rolling

 i dont want to leave 

 this heaven so soon'

Mark Lanegan

this writing lark

  born of cliche fear

this posey parade

  coming out the chalk pit mire

its guilt-dumping
  in the pleasure cup

its dirty genesis seed
  seeking the right rot

so fling it chimp style
  at the observers glass

& name it something weepy 

  heavy with caveats

in the showground mirror of it all

LIFE BEGINS WITH F

life
begins
with
F

~

i hear a distant PA
in
that
orphan moment of waking

coffee silences
the imagined
tannoy trill

THEY MAKE A DOLL OF HIM

theyre making a doll of him

olive tshirt / army fleece 

little flaming bottle bombs

little dots of war-o-clock shadow

& empty ready fist-hook hands 

they made a doll of him

~

& all the stars 

come out to play

to pay 

to wave

to give passwords away

to the tired man

calling to the world

~

&

we make dolls of him

&

we might make a che of him

a meme team app industry of him

him & his 2000 mile glare-stare

~

we make dolls of him

fiddling with unkillable plastic

frozen in the looming gloam of nukes

YESTERDAYS MEN

 

yesterdays men
beige wrapped & dawn charmed

shamble & gamble
up the top 

to the paper shop

for their own personal choice
of infoprint prejudice meat

folded in half & carried home

for another naked breakfast

~

they navigate like history ships

weak wind in worn sails

round the pavements cement cracks

recounting recurring tales

&

they reach out to brick gateposts

for a hint of masked support

the flat shoe shuffle going slowly now

keeping it together till home port

PLEASE DISCUSS 4, OXYMORONIC

'the more things change 

 the more they stay the same'

i cannot be arsed 

to look into 

the origins 

of this oxymoronic

be it trite or pith
i fix it thus -

'some thing change'

but who feels clever saying that ?

i invite you to remember

triggers broom -

17 new heads & 14 new handles

~

please discuss

you have one hour

ask if you need more paper

STUFF I HEAR NO 8

gardener chips chopped deadfall
into the strimmed grass piles

down there up the road

& 

the fridge plays
call & response 

talking-blues style

with the plumbings
slo-mo hesitant hums

STUFF I HEAR NO 2

 

a handbrake yank & screech

& the postmans out & laughing

his radio not on today

the vans sliding door slides open

with a sound hard to describe - 

a latch crunch-clack 

& truncated roller rail wail ? 

anyway -

he ho-hums his round away
pausing for jabber natter

yeah mate

yeah mate

yeah

MANHANDLING RUST

optimism
got in somehow

it has a chemical glow
&
makes for an unusual day

~

i was in the garage

manhandling rust

when sunlight got in

the cement slab holes

& lit the spiderwebs up

something holy

PLEASE DISCUSS 5, TRUTH WORLD

 

its popular 

these days 

to say that

'this is the post-truth world'

& i understand

what they mean

& i understand

the buzz word need

but it implies 

there was a truth-world

& i think i missed that

~

please discuss

you have 90 minutes

ask if you need more paper

EMPTY SWINGS KNOW, A NEWS FLASH POP

 

heavy sadness 

is the other sunshine  

there in the snapshot moments

the empty swings know

next up 

    heres hermes with the sport 

PLEASE DISCUSS 3, INTERNETS

the amazon prime minister
got the facebook jones

instagram cats
in q-anon hats

ebay payday
finds your next Favourite Thing

~

please discuss

you have one hour

ask if you need more paper

DANDELIONS OF YOUTH

 

i get the 

heebie jeebies

when i see 

the hospital horizon 

over & above 

the pesticide leaning 

of the 

died & dried dandelions 

of  gone  youth

PLEASE DISCUSS 2, SUNROOM RUGS

 

as the saying goes

i am old enough & ugly enough 

to know that shit changes

but why does it turn into shit ?

like 

weightlifters 

cleaning out 

the stallions stables

onto your sunroom rugs

~

please discuss

you have one hour

ask if you need more paper

PLEASE DISCUSS 1, LAUNDRY DAY IN VEIL TOWN

its not new

to see the world as mad

& 

balls to the wall crazy

but is it much more obvious now ?

its laundry day in veil town

& it rabbit-punches you

down to the kitchen lino

drooling on the mornings crumbs

~

please discuss

you have one hour

ask if you need more paper

WAGES OF SIN, NEWS FELCH

forty miles of mobile iron
&
bunker-buster carbon rain . . .

new batman
movie denied

ICC
naughty step
decades off

really ? come again . . ?

~

we sooth any pain
with pet memes again

numb & dumb
all for none & none for one

exceptions impossible to reward

~

i news felch

theres hindsight

but i look for james bond