'ITS 2026 PEOPLE...'

announcing the year
as a reason 

sanity should prevail

is kinda like

declaring dinner time

to the fridge

or telling 

the dog

its may

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

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

DESPERATE FOR A SIGN OF LIFE

TAKE 1

in the night dearth

drunk & mad

id refuse to go in
refuse to stop

until id seen 

a moving car
a person

a sign of life

beyond the hedgehogs
the night cats

or me

TAKE 2

in the night dearth
drunk & mad

shouting at the moon

arms full of stolen gnomes

id refuse to go in

refuse to stop

until i had seen

a dog walker

the milkman

a shooting star

piss drying

in the street corner

transformer station

Photo by Iqram-O-dowla Shawon on Unsplash

LUNCH NEXT DOOR

 

  the 

old man next door

plans his grandkids 

easy peasy lunch

tipolatas & beans 

he says grinning

tipolatas & beans 

i would describe him 

in this moment 

as actually gleeful

harmless but for his vote

his deaf ears

casual racism

&

dog in a living room cage

photo by Justin Jason on Unsplash

COVID WALK SKETCHES

WALK 1

saw the white moon coin
pre-ordered in the blue pm

saw boozers pop art litter

& 

the steel giraffe cranes

saw an old black dog

limping his exercise 

back home

journalists
baton-shot
on
the
youtube screen

WALK 2

saw

a

child

plump face fruit cheeked

eat sweets after school

by a brown brick wall

he was alone with fructose

his
bag
a

terrible

weight

i carbo-load & crash
wallowing 
in the 
oils spills
stream drift

from haikusandbooze.blogspot.com

OBSERVATION FROM A PARKED CAR

how
does
that
fat man

shave those rolls
on the back
of his head ?

hello bulldog clips
&
a three mirror set up

hello razor burn
& sweat dense lint

wife tut-huffs
in the doorway


~


beautiful white dog

got everyone looking

sleek & whip alert

he is nature juxtaposed

a stock image

there on the high streets
chilled 
shutter
ensemble


~


the 
eternal 
jewellers
has shut down

you name it
they had it
with a clock on

bookies never close



~


giant pot 
tree stub
on a rainbow bed
thats moribund

reaches

kinda 
reluctant

for a greyed out sun


~


theres 
dog walkers
carrying shit
on
the
grassy knoll

theres
the 
jewellers cat

radiating nevermind
& soul

from flickriver.com

MEETINGS

sudden meeting at 8 AM is of course just for the hosting boss to get his ticks checked on his nvq tick check sheet 

ridiculously to kick off he wants someone to speak up & say something about themselves

& no one does of course

we all need cigarettes & its really no time to be wedged in a stuffy room set out in a rough prayer-meeting / auditorium half circle

we filled it from the back row forwards

we all suck hasty coffee morning eyes blank-gaze at the bad neck skin sat next row up

we are all under carbed

meeting 101 have food duh

no tick box to check for that on the nvq management tick check sheet apparently - i did ask 

& then this guy from contracts a new guy only pipes up & says

    i  got  a  dog

it is hilarious for weeks in that way work things are


~


mandatory & beneficial career gateway meeting is mandatory doublespeak jag more like

some office suits lame idea pushed to brown-nose points out the board 

not that he is attending or anything

gave in his notice this morning i heard ffs

but there is no career gateway & they know we know there is no career gateway so they cover it up by saying

    a  l  l  u  d  e

so much & so often it quickly means nothing at all

we say allude all the time after that & it is enough in that way work things are

from thefutureofwork.net

PICASA MADRIGALS, PAINKILLER PANTING & BOLTED BONES

NOT POSH ENOUGH

FOR CONTRAST AND CONTEXT

( in a dept store cafe )

theres a woman
cackling over 
her grandchild
then
she
lists
items
in a standard xmas dinner

her family are on their phones

theres an old lady
barking
like an asthmatic dog
like an emphysema crow
at
a
flaking pastry

theres her daughter
on crutches
talking
slow
so slow
slow as illness

and quiet as a cloud

theres a silent man
nothing to eat
no tea cup and saucer
a shine of use
on his knees
on his arse
of
his
cheap black asda slacks

theres a man in a cap
eyes invisible
check shirt
tucked in
trousers high
checking out the seed stand 
for 
20 
minutes

before choosing nothing

~

i dont fit in here
thats why i need to be here

( says
  my
  ego )

i make the picture

i represent
the contrast and context

no
one
is
looking for

( says
  my
  ego
  sadly )

~

just another meat puppet

dancing 
strings
pulling
at his arm
at his hand
at his pen
scribing
words
like
spiders legs
in 
a 
small lined
spiral bound
scribble pad

in a stop and start coffee dream

from thompson-morgan.com

PORN BEFORE WEB

CALL JUNO 101

out in the park
for air and space

a woman walks her dog
one lap
and leaves

one bench is all twisted metal strips
bent from use and fire

the other has no back

i sit on the one with no back
and smoke 
in 
the air
and space

a disheveled guy 
shapeless in torn blue 
shuffles up

asks for a fag paper

i got none i say
and
when he sits next to me
leans forward arms on his knees
i offer
him the
end of
my smoke - he takes it soundlessly

then
you busy ?
ha i say i look busy ?
he gestures at my camera
taking pictures of birds are you ?
ha i say anything really clouds mostly

more silence
he smokes the butt to death
i look up at clouds

presently he says whats this say ?
holding out a form
from inside his coat
that has hand-written 
in the top box-

    CALL JUNO 101

so thats what i say
and thats what he repeats
apparently happy with that

and after more silence 
i tell him to take it easy

he grunts
i walk off

pointing
my 
camera
at
the 
clouds