NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS ETC PT 2

healthy better choices

scroll UP

colours

make preparations

be still

with limited supply
  decrease demand

free then deploy
  nanbots

be me more

water . . .

  a deity ?

smile in the mist

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS ETC PT 1

not all films will be shitty

sleep properly

  like a person

become iron man

global justice

paint roses

neighbourhood patrols

do as the cat does

increase citizens arrest record

build a sofa

FOOTNOTES TO YOUR SHOW

relight
the fire
in the core
of the creating cherub

& laugh
laugh !
at the simplest things

reality be damned
&
news headlines 

only footnotes
to your show

LASHINGS OF MAD MAD SAUCE

if defeat

feels snug

bulk up 

on anger pie

three times 

every day

its investment grit

in the oyster bank

that dividends

a stretchy belt

& lashings of

mad mad sauce

REANIMATE THE CHEESE

sitting down

trying to have

a brilliant idea

with the old bread

of my mind

~

all i manage 

is to lightly toast 

the poor sandwich 

to fake freshness

& reanimate the cheese

THEN CARLOS RAN

one shot 

& the tokarev 

jammed up after

& that one bullet 

bounced off

the philtrum

of the man 
in the bath

bounced !

& then carlos ran

from a bathroom

& into history

INDECENT EXPOSURE

todays
emperors
know
they
are not
wearing
any clothes

but dont bother speaking up child

the weavers went to eton
with half the front bench

WALKING ROUND BEECHCOMBE

chocka rentaskips
on stubby driveways
&
a loosened kerbstones
miniature rockfall
&
the leaves are golden shadows
spread under the naked trees
&
the lights on distant cranes
only white flares in the mist
&
a single bin is a dumb sentinel
at the edge
of the stretch
of wet field

~

i imagine a smudged murmuration
the wavy shape of a question mark

over the bowling green
i used to hop the fence to

to lay there
high on the best grass

A NECESSARY FORT

morning me
will thank 

last night me

for the chores

he did compel 

& it is not pitiful
to fool & manufacture
such miniature peace
in the face of chaos

& flaky meat puppetry

as clutter 

is often
anxiety now

when it used to be
a necessary fort

FENCED GLEN

the big tele
its violent stories
& repackaged myths

& when i step out
on the crunch of leaves
any legend is possible

i have food to scatter
for the wild animals

we know here

in our fenced glen
of central planning
carpenter forest

I DONT KNOW WHAT IM DOING, A DISCUSSION POP

it has a myriad 

of meanings

& intentions

but we all say it -

i dont know what im doing

its depreciating 

its disingenuous
its abdicating responsibility
its an embarrassment buffer

its a humble brag

its an admission of the disconnect

its panic & a call for help

but too i say it to myself 

in a very literal & true sense
acknowledging the channelling 

& duality of creativity

altho an essential caveat 

is appropriate -

when it is finished
i know what i have done

whether i want / deserve / own 

the credit or not

is a problem for another day

  

NO & WTF

tea break

tennish
hospital
round the table
steaming mugs
crossword book open
radio two on

& rose pipes up
says
remember when you were at school
& theyd have a day
when theyd put electrodes on your head
& put on those weird films
before doing a quiz ?

no
we say
absolutely not at all

wtf ?

FEW CHOSEN WORDS

dont complain
&
dont explain

react as water reacts
as much & no more
than physics decides

thatll keep the mob guessing
& add power
to your few chosen words

as the pixel crowd

turns blue

in kneejerk

meat fart

expression

ON THE ROAD TO HOSPITAL

the red & amber lights
on the hospital lane
where
copper council brick
meets
death row bronze

blend & mate

their burnt palette 
like a painting
like a thought

not captured or frozen

only slowed

EMPTY AS A TYRE IS EMPTY

theres a moment after we wake

a glimpse out of time
empty as a tyre is empty

before we remember It All

& the day
never does
recover

from this absence 

we had 

no chance

to prod

NO BELL TO EVER RING

to be ill
all the time

an everyday sicknote

well its like 

being sent to the corner
to stare at the wall

no chair allowed

the world alive

behind you

SOUVENIR RAM & NASCENT LDR

it takes so long

so far round the sun

to realise the old life is gone

~

& you tell its stories
in the lang syne forest
where memories camp

with souvenir RAM
in the sage shadow
of the khaki mist

~

& acceptance - 

well it feels traitorous  

like trading 

a last day with an old dog

in the park with his ball

for a nascent LDR

with the outer rim

ONE MISSED FEED

the government talk about
the duty of the sick to work

casting first stones

out their teflon towers

& it makes me feel
like a panda

judged & monitored
& falling off logs

one missed feed
from extinction

RETIRED GODS, A MOON WALLPAPER POP

 on the paved & indentured
    forest floors
         of 

    steel & glass
        we 

    fight ourselves

   to death & back

    with devil toys

   from the fire sale
         of 

      retired gods

    eager to boost

     their 

  diminishing  

    pension

        in their

      knee rug

        gin cafe

       twilight days

OF GREYEST JURISDICTION

talking to myself
in my head at night
i stumble & lose 

every second word

the plans & the ideas

cool & crazy & bullshit

building there of mist 

bolt & dash & career 

away on sudden motorcycles
into

the
brain haze vanishing points 

of greyest jurisdiction

where the universal minds

sorting pools & pulleys & levers

select a more functional chancer 

to try on for size

MIXED MEDS & PHILIP K DICK

it was a night of dreams

identity drama
in 

the 

dull theft of night

i blame mixed meds
&
the 

philip k dick stories

that i absorb
more thru osmosis
than normal reading

he would approve

~

dreamed i was
squat & stocky
in boxy work clothes
of dusty prison blue
with a flat pan of face
all underground pale
in the morning mirror
eyes there 

the colour of sickly chocolate
taking it all in again

resigned & resilient

a short black fringe

straight & clumped & default
with solid white roots
showing underneath
when the train wind blew
& the black hair rose

like a rigid wing
on the commuter platform
among many heavy stares

SCENE

 

with the 

opposite heel
he knocked 

a waffle
of bloody snow
off the bottom 

of his boot
in the 

farmhouse bedroom

the grip of meth 

weakening
& letting in the chill
of clothes 

wet from the river

as he packed bags

for the young sisters 

going away

HOPE ON ICE

the sadness

is under the ice

i keep the hope on

as i play 

wait & see

in the mad dancing shadow

of the proverbial pan

DOG BARKS IN A SILENT NEIGHBOURHOOD

the hoot of a train horn

funnelled down the grass banks

of litter & scrub & stubs 
&
the movie dialogue 

snappy & truncated 

by channel hoping hope

&
the dog that barks

in a silent neighbourhood

of a teenage sunday

&

the rave whistles 

shrill & bright

on the smoky festival wind

&

the cold hatchback motors 

turning over in coughs

on a frosty workaday dawn

remind me 

of the ambient album
found-sound collages

of the 90s

as opposed to

it working
the other way around

ANDROID TBD (A MOON WALLPAPER POP)

the straw man army

moved to basket

for 

same day delivery

is

shipped off-the-peg ready

at black friday prices

to 

pre-empt the peaceniks first cry

frequently bought together -

NoChat

the debate shutdown

flash card app

ios only

android tbd

LUNCH CANNOT SWALLOW

stories
in
the
bones
worth
medals
tell themselves
in the cracks & lumps
of bad heals

& my muscles call for fuel
across the limbic telegraph

joints heavy
like lead
like gravity

in the bubblegum stretch
of a masticated morning
lunch cannot swallow

FRAG 37

never has the past looked so rosy

thinks everyone

every time

the fan 

needs another 

deep clean

~

like the radar station

disguised as a water tower

from the last global war

looks

quaint & retro

these days

to me

HUNDREDS OR THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO

i have
to stop writing
to scratch the cat

he demands it

&

has taught me how

cats look like
they know poetry

but
have
been there / done that

understood it / mastered it

& moved on beyond it

hundreds or thousands

of years ago

WINTER & THE CUP OF YEARS

running late
winter calls collect
&
the cold sun
so low
bites weakly

heavy with
plagiarised
melancholy

& 

memories steeped
in
the
cup
of
years

HOSTILE MESH

its a loose weave safety net
the
sick & sad
get
tangled up in

calculated disrepair
adds

barbs
to
the hostile mesh

blow up 

what you like

is what i hear

as

long

as

'help'

DRIBBLES

thru

how to enjoy the orchards now

with all the soil has seen ?

PLACE IS HEAVY NONSENSE

trembling at death
frying pan to fire ?

agog at the universe
the size of the thing ! 

& afraid of tomorrow
that regular unknown

~

this place is heavy nonsense

run by lightweights & lunatics

their teeth marks clear

on the seaside piers 

& the dogs of circumstance

congregate to salivate 

in 

the 

truncated precinct

nangs & candy plastic

on 

the 

betting slip ground 

NEWS LIVER

the bad bad news

gets IN me

like i have an organ for it

like evolution grew receptors

for the 24/7 death deluge

& it taxes 

my practiced liver 

to overflow

& i am holed

skin tags atremble

& a bad light beams
out my colander trunk

like 

some 

dark screaming beacon of the wrong

MOON WALLPAPER 3

we are  

cutlery monkeys

&

electric chimps

with

history chips

&

flipside chipsticks

on 

kevlar shoulders

&

worn canvas epaulettes

cheered & damned 

by

soft slugabeds

supine 

in clouds of vanilla mist

&

armchair generals

wild

in a chilli flake rain

all

empathy ducts clogged

&

sympathy holes healed

on

their food padded tv ribs 

 

YOU HAVE UNTIL THE BELL RINGS

if we discovered

sound & solid proof 

of eternal & rigid 

predestination

it would not

& could not

change anything at all

could it ?

~

please discuss
you have until the bell rings
& six foot of chalk for your slate

BASKET ON THE STAIRS

 

progress travels a hard road
of hairpin turns & dead ends
in the
bad swamp

toll road
of unfriendly hands & siren song

its the basket on the stairs
baggage & reason 

in there with the ready washing

its destination 

as universally accepted

as its eventual arrival 

is assumed

too few hands tho

commit 

to handle grasp

MOON WALLPAPER 2

cacophonous dusty vignettes
caught as testimony
stack themselves
in server farms
eating rivers
towns need

digital witness is a thirsty business

on the other side
of the newspaper world

MOON WALLPAPER 1

when the dogs of war want walking
it is 

always 

only 

old men

far away who say aok

& loosed they go
playing drone fetch now
in the concrete parks
low-rise arenas

its hard to see
such carnivores
waste all
that young
fruit & veg

HORRIBLE KNOT

 

we have made 

a horrible knot 

of it all

its

many loose ends
obscured

in
the 

unravelling tapestry of the land

MYTHICAL CHESTNUT

living in the moment

that mythical chestnut

is for kids & animals

got no money

got no politics

  

wonderfully ignorant 

of their skin in the game

ANOTHER POETS POEM

 

the atrocious swan of love*
said the poem

published in landscape

in a book like a calendar

& i stop there
picturing it

a calm river

& brick arch bridge

the image halts 

my hospital rush

* from May, in Shia LaBeouf, by A K Blakemore

LIKE A PHOTO NEGATIVE

the sunlight 

is invasive

is heavy 

as chefs knives

cutting thru
lime neon leaves

it makes me feel 

like a photo negative

like a hiroshima shadow

i hate how 

it gets inside 

of me

&

how sad it is

to be irritated

by a star

COSY WARM IN DEFIANCE DESPITE IT

using your legally entitled
'help & assistance'
of the benefits system uk

is like a cold hug
from a creepy uncle
that chills
your wet bones numb

but who might you hope

hand you a folded ten
greasy strings attached
out from his cardigans
ratty detritus pockets

so you might you hope

attempt an almost life
tethered & dependent
to his fickle windsock
with grey workshed twine

cosy warm in defiance despite it

CLOCK IS A MONOGRAM

a mad sprint of abandon
down the bullet train aisle

chasing the quicksilver
in the hard colour fade

& still

its always the morning
of a funeral afternoon

in the go-fast
       sandglass
       update
       of the info-glut jamboree

DULL ELECTRIC IN THE MORNING STREAK

theres doubt
dull electric
in the morning streak
of pencil lead cloud

i draw storms with it

in the comfy chair afternoon

thunderheads out the dog whistles

blown in dark opportunity

on the corruption stage

theres relief
approaching peace
in the pastel smear
of industry dusk

a bittersweet goodbye

projected on the painted sky

or pollution blood

& redacted black

phoning the headlines in

REVERSED UP COMPASSION DRIVE

the permutation 

of the word narrative
he said
has an agenda 

that chaos wont stand

dont they know reasons are not answers ?

just enjoy the air 

i told him
its fresh like a clean blade

& clipped just so

i think youve reversed 

up compassion drive

he said to me shaking his head
when you missed 

the deathville turnoff

i

hope

at

least

you grabbed something good to read

at the junction multimart station ?