RAVENOUS GHOST

to shrink from the ache

of art & splendour
& analyse why you do too

is the work

of a ravenous ghost
glib & concorde high

CEMETERY DRINKING 2

there is a special peace

it is a crowded emptiness

they are filed under rock

~

& no disrespect was meant
to the soil town ghosts 

( i like how theyre done with waiting )

but a bottle 

& a bench in there
was night out enough for me

& wet work done

dead soldiers waited 

in the flower bin

for the dawn & dew

MY AI DOWNLOADED YOUR DEEPFAKE

i absorbed you all 

into my monkey ether
over those 1000 hour

i auto-logged your voices
for no-choice alone reruns

youre in my habit
my satchel
& my epaulettes

its a scientific haunting

the past is a ghost

i am a history church

a bug ridden airbrush

powdering the glitches 

from computerhope.com

MOVIE POPS & A BOOK POP

DEATH AND THE PENGUIN

penguin at the graveside
hired
tired
paid
to wake them
on their way

dont ask
youre working youre alive
dont ask
youre writing youll survive

penguin in the graveyard
his work is not hard
fish fed and under stars

dont ask
youre working youll thrive
if you dont know
wont have to hide

penguin plays his part
stood still in the rain
falls ill
in pain
needs a transplant
mourners acquire a childs heart

but you looked in the bottom drawer
found out
safe no more
and now must wangle
a plane
to antartica

from goodreads.com

UNFORGIVEN POPS


1.

film
on
broadcast
tv

saw it 
on release 
1992

high & awed
a western

get in
i remember thinking

get in


2.

i remember
the bits we liked

& like them again

i remember
the bits we laughed at
afterwards
in a hatchback
knee deep
in fast food kipple

with friends

i dont see

anymore



3.

hes big
hes broken
hes bent over

hes sick
in the rain
in a strange town

he sees a ghost - hendershot

but he aint like that anymore


5.

he dreams -

the 
angel of death
has 
snake eyes

but
he aint like that 

anymore ?

from theredlist.com

COUNTING THE MOON

scene-
long shadows
in a 
winter alley

daytime
licks
at
the
bins

there-
the ghost of Was
meets 
the spectre of Could

scene-
discarded toys
sunfucked plastic

tire ruts
knots of weed

there-
they file cliches
in 
the
ruins of a childs fort

scene-
night now

weak stars
rip torn cloud

there-
filing finished
they
count
the
moon

pic from theverge.com

HOME TOWN POPS

1. SEA CHEST

gran had her ghost story

her apparition
at the end of the bed

a woman
hovering
on
grandpas sea chest

she
only
aired
it
once or twice

and i was sceptical
cos me id talk about it all the time

and anyway 
i was more interested
in the sea chest

in my childs mind
there was d day in there
dunkirk
u boats
sharks off the n african coast

and a liberated pistol
i could smuggle home




2. SMALL TOWN

small town
shut cinema
was pool
is now bingo

evacuated farm buildings
sit in the scraps

the waterworks so thoroughly vandalised
they
shut
them
down

conrad lived here for 20 minutes
pepys hung out in the worlds end
revolting peasants
lit the marsh beacons

the queen mother
came to visit all the oil
shook my pas hand

and the school fire
well the police asked me about that
art class 1985
when i was drawing a man
with flames for a beard

still theres forest

silent woods
rolling uphill

you could be an animal there

and if you squint
from up top
you can see
londons jigsaw skyline

like a grey 
5B smudge

pocked with fragmented pencil lead



3. CATS

we saw five cats
just out walking 
round the crescent
under a 5pm drama sky

we said hi to one
rubbed his neck
he sat on the kerbstone
where old uncle bulgaria 
used to potter
in his steptoe yard

one was in a bungalow window
next door to where 
that tv lady grew up
she added a 'van' to her common name
and 
left 
for the green rooms 
and the silver lights

he watched us like a border guard

one played in a cardboard mountain
left over from flatpacks
piled out by the wheelie bins

one was spread out on front garden cement
like he fell out the sky
landed by plants looked like froth
and a window dog
behind him 
was barking in double glazed silence

another one strolled by
like some victorian 
perambulating 
taking the air
before aperitifs

and
back home
theres ours

still on the same pillow
no intention of moving
till
his
food and shit and shot 8.30 pm

and i thought 
where were the people
in this fuckburg town?

can hear them plenty enough at night 
thats for sure

sounds like the monaco F1
or the isle of wight TT
sometimes

its oxford freaking circus out there
when 
we
are 
not looking

SOE pistol, welrod, from ww2nation.com

DOORS

GET IN THE BACK OF THE VAN

i watched Bez
protesting
placed
in a police van

officer hand on his bucket hat head

slamming the back doors  
like a movie 

i didnt realise who he was

till later

when
he
was
doing
the
bicycle monkey dance
with his maracas 
on the reunion stage

and the police
were
breathing in
free
reefer

behind me


COMBINATIONS RESET
TO A BAND
OF MONOCHROME ZEROES

when the door is opened
to honest-to-death admission

its like a spring shower
and i feel
clean as a brook

and
when
hot lake
meets
hot lake

then the skeleton cupboards
all 
misplace 
their 
keys


HEADSPACE DOORS

and theres like a door opening
in your headspace

when
the
soul
of
a
poem 
appears formed
like
the
ghost
of a dead relative
after
a
of
cup
of
tea

till waking or distraction
renders
it
just a single heart over your head

like in a Tex Avery cartoon

with
one
beat
left

'withnail & i' from imoviequotes.com

PLANE LOOKS LIKE A BLURRY NEGATIVE

a plane
up there
glides thru
misty cloud
up there
like its 
a huge cross
in a 
huge box 
on a 
huge form
sliding by 
like advertising
up there
like a 
hardsell 
suggestion

the plane 
is creeping 
me out
up there
like its 
a ghost
up there
a ghost
from long ago
and i have 
stood still
down here
and we are 
already done

there is a 
uniform layer 
of dust 
and fluff 
and lint
all over 
all my 
clothes
like i have 
stood still
down here
since long
long ago

i feel 
hollowed
down here
battery 
struggling 
leaking
and rust 
is dripping

from
down
there

down
there

where the 
toilet goes

from thinkstock / news.bbc.co.uk