GOT NOWHERE WITH IT

in the cafe
i had coffee
at the counter
then decanted it
into a takeout cup

& took it with me
up to the field
where i stood
& looked downhill
at what i could see of the river
flowing silver behind the cranes

& thought about it all

& got nowhere with it

it has nowhere to go

SIMPLE LIFE CAN BE

cigarettes
never tasted
so good
as when
a black dog
camped
in every room


~

shaving my dome

well
it just makes me feel better

like sharpening a knife


~

you drink at night
& lie in a field
& theres the stars
how simple
life can be

MEETING AT THE WHITE POST TREE

get a bottle

&

a carrier full of cans

go

out

in

a

field

&

kick the empties about

laugh at earth
laugh at its signs

&

roll crumble-flake-slate

up an easy tree

smoke till then its dark

& 
the world

is unmade 
is fresh again

those

were

the

days

young & before phones
meeting arranged
at 
the
white post tree

20 pences for the call box man
easy stay out till three

from essexwt.co.org

A REAL FLYING HELICOPTER

he was young
a kid
a bored kid
  out 
  looking 
  for 
  Something / Anything

on the hatchback streets

( corsairs
  cortinas
  white dogshit
  sex pistols graffiti
  in the rape-trap subway )

~

he was young
a kid
no friends to speak of
riding his bike alone
  
  his
  mind
  an 
  Anxious Accelerator
  full 
  of 
  Vicarious Adventures

from books he read
from tv he seen
where
other kids would go out on their bikes
and explore caves
and climb walls
  and 
  find
  Something / Anything
  
but its not like that
in his fucktown for him

~

he was young
a kid
and one day
by the high street
near the pool

( when the pool
  was just a pool
  marathons tizer fruit juice
  in the snack machine
  with a 2p slot )

  he
  sees
  a
  helicopter !

coming in low
coming in to land

a real flying helicopter 

~

he was young
a kid
and
its exciting
its smugglers ?

he follows it
heart in his mouth
ALIVE on a bike

and it goes down behind a wall
and he climbs up the wall

( a wall to climb
  like he read
  like he watched
  a wall to climb
  in a street of concrete 
  assisted-living chalets
  metal bins behind wooden doors )

he sees it landed on a field
hes never seen such a thing before
he thinks hes discovered 
  
  Something . . .
  
  Mystery / Adventure / Smugglers ?

out on his bike
like the books he read
like the tv he seen

~

he was young
a kid
but weirdly older inside
all of a strange sudden

  because

  theres kids from his school there
  they already knew it would be there
  they were ready and waiting there 

  to fly in the sky

and hes just a kid on a wall now

( granadas 
  carltons
  skin heads / safety-pins / scooter mods
  on
  the 
  half-day closing
  milk-float streets )
  
learning
how
things
work

just a kid on a wall

half-day closing
portishead 1997