COMPATIBLE WITH THE DAY

thinking about school
the forest
the college canteen
& the road trip days

& i tour there
in the crucible of me

becoming slowly
more compatible
with the day

EYELID MOVIES, 3 FRAGPOPS

1.

wire-frame monsters
& greyscale faces
crowd the overfill
of night-closed eyes

2.

sandstorm orange  

&

translucent pink

like summer

in the womb

3.

it is a rioting haze

it is a 

pulsing 

rorschach 

demonstration

in throbbing overdrive

YELLOW BEANIE

 

so youre wearing 

your yellow beanie

& filming it cringe style

are you ?

& 'just for getting coffee' too

well fekking done

you cliche coquette humblebrag

now get out of my phone

i am trying to watch

the world end

DOGS PAWS

 

the bacteria
& fungus stuff
in the mould trap

looks like
the cosmati pavement

smudged

by

dogs

paws

DREAMFLUB & FRAGPOPS

i dreamed

we buy a red balloon together
& we let it go together

up & away & small 

into the sky & morning

of central parks
new bloom spring

~

well

always

i

am
looking for
a name for it

for whats lost
to reclaim it
whatever it was

FAIL TO RAGE, FRAGPOPS

our words 

tool meanings

been wrenched

agenda heavy
into blaming 

yellow rags

~

we owe it all

to topsoil 

& precipitation

& we have failed to rage
at the paving of it all

plastic

collecting

in our

bystander 

balls

REFLEX AIRBRUSH

 

today is stanchions

& 

its 

reflex 

airbrush 

whitewash 

unmakes

yesterdays

hysterical 

collage

indifferent as grey slate

TWENTY BROTHERS

'nothing used to say teenager

like ten menthols at dusk'

                   Anon

its a Thing to DO
all of the time
& its delicious
& it delivers

& leaves you wanting more

& theres always more 
& you can lean into that

thrilled & movie cool
& its killing you
but not today
& its cigarettes
& i miss them
sixteen quid !

DAWN TO FROG

now that moment

when dawn 

is about 

to breathe out

its soft promise

of warm earth

& easy time

well 

midmorning will mock it

& noon will flatten it

like a frog in the road

UNDER THE BENZO TREE

a calm 

that glows

& 

soft morning glee

nerve jags
ice nights

&
thoughts too free

lie as fruit

wind fallen

under the benzo tree

WINTER FRAGPOPS

decembers tagnuts

vie for place

in januarys

bereft gusset

~

now i remember

a late afternoon

high & itching

in the summer nettles

marlboro lights good

for hayfever throats

 

EVE OF DESTRUCTION

who knew

the eve of destruction

would

have

hot-to-your-door 

uber eats

delivery ?

GOLD & SILVER & RED & BLUE

the presents i got
from them
as a child

were wrapped
in the shiniest
of gift paper

gold & silver & red & blue

it was sad that had to stop

~

time takes things
that you dont know
& they dont know

till all of you are old

& running your movie back

dressed the colour of sand

SWIMMING POOL & OTHER FRAGPOPS

now i remember
the promise & glow
of the vending machine

in the foyer
of the swimming pool
on an autumn night

~

we are gestalt meat tubes

wrecking our kins carbon

with the bold fonts 

of hysterical doctrine 

~

life is

the search for

the perfect trouser 

(a pair with a silver lining)

& optimum towel proximity

THE GREYSCALE LEAVES, FRAG POPS

under the same sky
where warplanes fly
i walk the pale dawn

agog & grounded

kicking the greyscale leaves

~

its a terrible wonderful world
& we are safe we think
on the western islands
in our bells of mist

~

now the fire in my knees

is extinguished

by wading thru

the soup

in the hall

a trail like smudged pencil

i imagine as my wake

ON THE CHESTER DRAWERS

the day is there

bright / clear / classic

like Es are there

ambiguous / vestigial

at the end of words

the sun stencilled shapes

on the chester drawers

are

softly adrift

with

packed lunch sadness

& i shovel on the optimism

like ketchup
on dry mash

working with the bones of it

the doom of it

the habit & faith & light of it

in the predicted ash

MIGRAINE #80

the headache says

all the patterned shirts

must stay in the armoire

let them yell

behind closed doors

 

& you reread the braille of scars

& moles 

& miscellaneous

waiting for silk wind 

in the sandpaper land

dressed in low stimulus grey

BOOKBAGS & BACKPACKS

 

the sludge
burbling in the turdle runoff
once was rain maybe
gentle in spring

&
falling
on
small shoes & swings
&

bookbags & backpacks

&

hand-me-down softshell hoods

&

a mothers phone

the banking app there

& her anxious minces

SOLAR LENTIGINES

the small blemishes

of oil splatter burns

from when i cooked steaks

gives me a glimpse
of my hands aged
with liver spots

& solar lentigines  

~

now my hands

creep me out
like sudden spiders

magritte big
wild with potential
& Unmine

& i clamp them shut

& pick three real things

against the ennui 

& marrow angst 

WELL DONE ELVIS

legs weak
as the UN

i walk slow
as human rights

to the park
green as the hulk

where a footy coach
dressed like tik tok

shouts well done elvis
with minimal cringe

at a toddler
small as a claymore

& i am hooded
like a looting racist 

but cos the suns low

like new year morale

& i smile
like jesus might

at a dog
looking sad as a mother

markings on his face
like forever tears