FRIEND SONG WITH PARENTHESES

inside me
is a multiheaded megafriend

made up of all of you

 (in your levis / your gyspy core
  & your norm-chic

  your saturated black / the hat envy

  & toytown frills)

& you all talk to me still

 (questions edged with giggles

  & the lume of a plaintive moon)

no matter
how far
you think
you have
all gone

WEAK TEA VISION

it is an overcast
& room temperature day

a day that tried for more
& turned out like weak tea

there is a sense of something 

forgotten / lost / gone

& a feeling of something

missed / wrong / skewed 

& then there comes a moment 

when i think / feel / know 

that if i turned round now
my grandparents would be there
 
a reassuring perfection

of themselves

maybe even hand in hand

in beige & smiling

DIAMOND MINE 2

& all those gone
arent left behind

no thats us

blind
in
the
diamond mine

from alvista.com

2018 OFFCUT POPS 3

NO CHOICES

hes gone

where they all go

when they go

see you there

why not
    why not 
        why not ?



SMELLS ME DIESEL

the
cat
manages to make
a
noise just like
hydraulic brakes

& my memory
smells me diesel
in overseas snow

till he farts
like an arsehole

blocked drain now
after heavy rain

& pa gets out
the dyno rods again



ENGLISH CAFE BLUES

in
the
cafe

queues
just
me

its english theyre speaking
but its not english i hear

he NEEDS coffee
they say
they laugh

i am a thousand miles away

my mind made
of cushions

& unable to explain

~

i sit-

well its a controlled collapse

& the view is exactly arse height 

&
i
wonder
what
regular secrets
all those under-grundies
have
seen

its a grundy parade
by the calendar stand

& i write it down

now this english im writing
is english i understand

a grundy parade
& mr calendar man

it makes sense on paper
if anywhere can

from flickr.com

THE NIGHT HUNGRY SUFFER ON

hangovers mercury lurch
&
ultimate sickness

is
existential crisis

is
awful reality hd awareness
in 
horrible action live-feed


the day is 
too HERE
&
too GONE

in the same terrible endless moments

and
it 
wont
stop - youre thru the looking glass

and you know 
above all
that nothing here 
is yours
for the taking

from picturequotes.com

BATSHIT TOWN SALVAGE

suddenly
i am here

in normal bed
aghast at the ordinary

when the last i remember

i was 
in crazy crescent 
batshit town
claiming salvage rights
on all the rocket chopper blades
left
outside
number
16

there was a dark mood
heavy like velvet

i was being watched
by backwards eyes

there was indecision
there was back and forth

and there was doubt
big as a mountain
frozen on the cement

it was a twisted tangle 
of a streetside dream

and
its
all
now
a
black dog
stormhead
on
realities
morning

that dissipates 
like kettle steam

and tonight
at the feet of the day
in normal bed
when all the ordinary
is comfortably done
i
will
be
suddenly absent again

my subconscious
will roam mad

inside the winter seaside
of
my
only
head

from brainwavepowermusic.com

THE NOWHERE HATCH AGAIN

well it was all gone 
wasnt it

left the nowhere hatch open again
didnt i

my mind i mean - well
i picked up
what i could

it was like packing chips
sticky and almost food

i put them in my breast pocket
a stain appeared there and spread

some i left online like waypoints
like memories and markers and yardsticks
and crawled under the soft blanket
and slept in the daytime

and later my mind dried like beef jerky
i tried to put it back together with tea

but it needed the mindless nothing 
of a cookie cutter movie
to get it to up its minimal game
and 
regular 
acceptable 
low grade 
behaviour

from mycustomhotwheels.com

ABSENCE

i've gone

i was good

and
i
hope
they talk about me sometimes
still

 from smallbusiness.co.uk