MIDNIGHT LANES

lighters changed hands

  with the theft as a game

kebab dregs spilled

  on the taxi rank concrete

cigarette smoke hung 

  in the bus stop rain

king skins folded

  into a marlboro soft pack

flat bottle nectar

  helped bogart the pain

& delirium shone
  on us / in jeans / back then

a sticky eighth tucked 

  in a rothschild pocket

electric moons lighting 

  our midnight lanes

  

DAYLIGHT CROPPED BY THE YELLOWED HALF-NETS

the nose sweat
from too many
salt & vinegar
potato crisps

reminds me of the pinball machines
of the whos tommy & star trek tng
in the back corner of the public bar

cider pints & marlboro reds

daylight cropped

by the yellowed half-nets

thames mud stink
creeping up to
the marijuana wall

SEPIA REAR VIEW, A 90S MEMORY POPLING

i miss you all

i want to hug you all

& it hurts that i cant


still i can smell the marlboros

the new-car magic-trees

& the hot knife fume

TWO MONDAY POPS

1. REALITY SLIP

'A black cat went past us, then another just like it.'
'How much like it?  Was it the same cat?'
                    Neo and Trinity talk deja vu 


when you drop
some tiny thing

in the stretched moments
before you find it

you
question
if it was even there
in the first place

cos our reality and faith

is that thin



2. END TIME PLAN

'Asylums are full of people who
never built a bomb in their lives.'
                    Dr Farley Munroe


when i hit an existential low
and worry the Worst

mutually assured destruction

yeah those mad games

i
remind
myself
theres
a seed bank

locked away somewhere
in antarctica

and sane minds there
who keep it fresh and cool

and too
that the corner shop
isnt far

and
i
can
get
fags
there
and go chain smoke marlby reds
on the rec

and reacquaint myself with gin
and the ghosts of friends and life
from the streets
of my formation

holding
hands
with love
and
the good times

dr strangelove from britannica.com