BEAR CORNER 1990

& tho we all said DONT

he would run ahead

to the phone box 

on bear corner

& dial 999 

& shout BOLLOX

at the answering dispatcher 

then stand triumphant 

on the pavement
a lit b&h in his 

half-sovereign fist

waiting for us to catch up

every friday night

after last orders

in 1990 or 91

SOUND FILE VOL 5

old gone 90s radio

plays out the hatchback
in sick-note 2021

a fry-up for thought

& full-on nostalgia

in the undertaking lane

i wormhole & glitch

on pitsea coco street 

tesco extra dead ahead

the hit & miss dance-rock crump

is spattered with memory yells

& loud / quiet denim angst

its siren song

in the mythology sense

between the djs sleepy humdrum 

& logo cheese

~

van doors slam eternal 

in 

these home delivery days

its drum machine primitivism 

&

every bleep in the street

is a techno tweet

& a treat to meet

at

small englands castle gates

SOUND FILE VOL 4

 

90s radio 

on in the motorcar

in 2021 

leafy murmurs & thunderclaps

dayglo whistles in the air

look down all day at your shoes

two journeys 

for the price of one

~

the bad is worse & the ok better 

rose tinted right ?

its in its context now

safe in a history box

landlines still rung

napster a teenage dream

~

  i 

  reckon 

Lester Bangs would rate the Prodigy

& not much else

  

  & 

  spit cool accelerator bile 

  on the unrock dirge laments*

 

* you know who i mean

FLASHBACKS IN TESCO

high street rush-bustle 7 PM
i spend £1.80 in a Tesco Extra
i am called LUVVIE

and

jim is in there
jim is in a rush
jim doesnt see me
theres grey in his beard
and weight on his waist

we went to college together 1990
he wore DMs then
hes wearing DMs now
he claimed to have a lucky testicle back then
hes got 2 kids now
maybe 3

i remember one lunchtime
when
we
tried
to
eat
a whole mormon bible

high street rush-bustle 7 PM
fag smoke drifts out an SUV window
by 
the new build on the old dairy land

i go sit in the car
wait for 8 o clock love train
watching
moving
faces
gurn

from theguardian.com