IN THE SKYS GREAT BOWL

the cats rolling onto his back
legs hanging / eyes watching

showing the trap of claws & teeth

baited by thick soft belly fur

of course i fall for it

~

its midnight & the lawn is wet

stars out in the skys great bowl

& the solar storms flares  

show up as nothing here

but i stay awhile / hoping 

they might / even invisible

be rewiring my brain

END TIMES ANTICIPATION 1

the lawn mowers music
& 

the highway choir hum

the dog walkers diatribe
& 

van doors snare drum slam

i believe 

i will crave
this street order ear balm

in the coming 

rubble struggle

of hunger & heat

so i express that
here

ITS CIGARETTES

i got mugged again

by memory lane 

in the dark alley

of my hallway

it shouted

farm dogs & school desks

in my face

& showed me again

those hepatitis signs

yellow on the mortuary door

its cigarettes 

is all i can think

a twilight world could want

ROBOT DOBBIN

some days
my own thoughts
bore me to tears

or would

if my parched organs

could spare the saline

~

& stuff i say sometimes

jesus christ its so freaking

default & vanilla & nothing

its like my intellect

was 3d printed yesterday

~

so here i am

a retired robot dobbin

wondering about trepanning

& the myth of good sleep

 

GARDEN HOGAKU

time is measured in pets
&
tower fans
&
discount thermals
&
lengthening children

& in the stolen propagule
thats a fir tree now

& theres a strange cat up there
in a nest of dead needles

waiting on birds
& dreaming

HAIKU TWO

organs watered

i am careful with the sun

summer river mood


~


the daily machine

is rust & meds & meat &

grit got in the oil

TIME HAS A GUN

time barrels in the door

shouldering it open

38 special out

owning the space

naked & huge & steaming

~

& 

memory lane

holds onto you 

like it needs you

but you know 

it has a steak knife

up its elasticated cuff

 

BRAIDED HOGAKU

& i fight there
in the basement of it

in light gone weird 

& details too big

with blank posey thin

but listen 

i will braid it 

for strength

OST OF THE MIND

the djs gone rogue 

hes looping common people

second hand prams

in the high street wind 

cul-de-sac kettles on

landline in the hall

~

its a soft afternoon 

of hard nostalgia

abnormal & silent & nothing

to the data scrapers ears

HAIKU FLUB

 

essential work flows

a river shallow from drought 

& the road trip dreams

PUBLIC FUNDED CAREHOME CANVAS

if youth
is wasted on the young

then health
is wasted on the chipper

i say

prescribe the sick 

lab-perfect medicinal whizz
& 

give the old & retired & forgotten 

lashings of military grade gak

& let the poor bastards dance again

~

& millstone clocks lifted

from their old bread necks

they shall paint societies revenge 

beautiful & kind & colourful 

on public funded carehome canvas

BLEED THRU THE CRACKS

i keep doing
& if i do hard enough

& dont look
into the morning mirror

then i might
bleed thru the cracks

& stain the stage
& make them see

after the curtains are down

& the lights are up

what it looks like

to keep doing

& the true-crime 

look of it all

HAIR BY NICKY CLARKE

babylon & the black dog

bogart in bohemia

theyre talking to denzel

for the movie

my ideas lose their way

in the unpaved quagmire
of a spiralling mind

&

my thoughts do

what cigarette smoke does

breathed out in the fog

the butcher of bakersfield 

betty boop & barberella

in b&q in brent cross

hair by nicky clarke

TREE DREAM OF OTTERS & TROUT

& the crypto mothman

has been sighted again

digging in the dump

for his plastic slab

of unicorn wealth

& snake oil -

well its a brand now

& off-grid looks good

looks like a fad

looks like a hard death

a place to be born

but not move too

a tree dream of otters & trout

to think on

when the wifi is down

NOR COMIC HEROES ON

they dressed 

us in black & grey
no colours 

nor comic heroes on

they put us 

in stiff shoes
for us 

to polish them too

when we were small 

& had no voice

& hiding was the best game

CATS RIDING DONKEYS TOO

the worlds ok really
just look at the internet

i can see the species unravel

in narcissism & violence

or zoom with a therapist 

& see cats riding donkeys too

i have scrolled for miles

& theres no end in sight

potted life on tap

in the soft lap of plenty

ANCIENT OAKUM

its
all
like
dried up glue

stringy & ugly
& something to pick at

ancient oakum come loose

& on the way 

to the kitchenette bin

in the peach colour prefab

then landfill

or a south pacific beach

where the turtles

cosplay westerners

but never for long

THE CREATIVE PUSH & PULL

you got to push it out
like birth
from need
from heart
forced by guts
out the valve you tore

& you must pull too
with exposure
laying bait
& fishing & trawling & mining

& if all that is
is a weak fart
on low hanging fruit

well i still did it

IN ITS BUDDHIST GAZE

& this little house
sat on its estuary clay

it almost has a face
if i would turn
swift enough to see

see its calm look

of time & bricks

see the stoicism

in its buddhist gaze

see all its needs

that can wait

its says

dont worry