MORNING SONG

again i check
the morning news
for tactical nukes 
& planet fall
or for triffids

& celestial intervention

& not finding anything

new there since midnight

i take my pills
& drink my coffee
sat at the easel

& start to try 

to make the canvas

& the summer clouds

i had painted there 

look less bloody awful

while theres still air

& a sun to see

ABOUT THE TRAIN STATION

with 

its 

unasked & screaming

in-your-face thereness

the giant silent flat screen
of rolling subtitled news

stretching all the way across

above the departure boards

made  

me  

feel  

crazy

in london fenchurch street

that last time

NEWS WILL EAT

you better

spend some time

looking
somewhere else

you fragile sun of a gun

or that news
will eat

your soft heart 

alive

A DAY IN THE STRIFE (TO THE TUNE OF A DAY IN THE LIFE)

i

saw

the news today oh boy

the government

blew its legitimacy out

in a subsidised ulez car

& tho the news was rather sad

i just stood & stared

as another crowd of people 

were turned away

&

everyone was really sure

he was from the house of shills

NARCISSISM FOR SURVIVAL

among other news

robots direct & patrol
the killing grounds hellscape

no wonder this generation
embraces the improved reality
of the photo filter drop down

their white picket fence
is in the handheld glass
that soft mirror
their minds can mould

& impossible bills
are piled up just so
& backlit as a backdrop
for another instagram shot
of a perfect lunch sandwich

FOOTNOTES TO YOUR SHOW

relight
the fire
in the core
of the creating cherub

& laugh
laugh !
at the simplest things

reality be damned
&
news headlines 

only footnotes
to your show

NEWS LIVER

the bad bad news

gets IN me

like i have an organ for it

like evolution grew receptors

for the 24/7 death deluge

& it taxes 

my practiced liver 

to overflow

& i am holed

skin tags atremble

& a bad light beams
out my colander trunk

like 

some 

dark screaming beacon of the wrong

BLACK MIRROR

i put the finishing touches 

on my diy claude mirror

i polish out the scratches
from the second-hand acrylic
with toothpaste & a cloth

i will watch the news in here

in its muted tonal shadows

if i watch at all

DELIRIUM TAPAS VOL 11

me & sick friend

well

we compared symptoms

like twisted top trumps it was

tea stain

pee stain

on the tshirt shore

~


i hear neighbours dumb arriving

& i think HAND GRENADE

i hear news / see the sadness

& i think HAND GRENADE

& so on

curl round it / throw it / i dont know

they never even work out in video games

photo - Dumb Neighbours Probably (found photograph) from the Dagenham Archive

CAFE NUPTIALS, WITH NOTES

sometimes
what i do is pick a title
before i written anything

i write where i am
& add a word on whim

so here goes 
Cafe Nuptials -

~

Cafe Nuptials

i half recognise someone
but thats just being out

( disregard that - false start )

~

Cafe Nuptials

i carry a tray 
for a lady 
struggling on sticks 

her husbands gone off somewhere 

they do that i say

me having gone off somewhere myself

&
in a booth
my 
tired 
leaking
meat
googles news

( bit better - should stop here )

~

carboloading
i try to remember 
if my 
'vote' 
was ever 
'successful'

when thatcher was voted out ?

when thatcher was voted out
Its All Over Now Baby Blue 
played out of student hatchbacks 
on another pub-side lunch-run

( i didnt stop - 
  burped a memory pop instead )

~

& 
with 
the 
homeless osmosis wisdom
of 
my 
designated years

i
know
now

that democracy 
is / was 
an aim 
an Ideal 

eroded in white bread slices 
ever since rights were hard won

( i swell with faux profundity )

~

protesters are banned 
from the capital streets
&
a gold toilet is stolen

& i think - 
green is the colour
our children shall miss the most 

(eco-conscious blab plus headlines )

~

&
i think i am maybe against borders
&
the bomb-bang lands
are only miles away

just air between us

consensus & air

( basic philosophy & maps )

~

swelling 
with
faux profundity 

in 
the 
cafe nuptials

of coffee & world & me

i stroke the blind glass 
under a false ceiling

( slip in the title & some commonality )

~

this glass
we touch
we cant SEE thru . . .

& 
i feel like 
i am 
at the end of something

& i dont mean just this coffee

( repetition & sign off )

from foodspotting.com

CLOTHES & TV 2

all the
big gin
evening 
photos 

well i am 
always in 
this same shirt

a tablecloth shirt 
w/ brown lozenges on  

my drinking shirt

gone casualty thin
in the
busied
underarms

oh 
the things
that shirt
had seen

~

tv on

rolling news

nazi zombies

ash

in my lap

gone midnight
gone midnight
gone midnight

but
there was still time

a
long
time
ago

this shirt

THRICE POPS

FEAR BETWEEN THE MODCONS

tv news dazzles

in the wrong way

& fear chills crawl around

up

in

my

vest

emporium

2073 AD

let me crash out unloaded

under

my

choice

of

famous landmark

moondust eulogy

on

the

concrete prairie

for all the trees

&

me




THE WRITTEN MIRROR

read

my own pomes . . .

existence confirmed again

for

a

few

minutes
more

from www.atta.travel

SOME HEARTS

NEWS IS A BLACK DOG HUMPING MY LEG

   8.30 AM
 the cat pads across the quilt
   he puts a paw of claws
 gently into my cheek
  like its my  ON  button

 tick tock its injection o clock

       i say 
     i'm on it fella 
  it comes out as a morning growl
   he is patient
  he is used to waiting  for me 
      as i slowly 
     fall out 
    of my dreams

  i fold myself out the bed
 like a collapsing deckchair 
    i walk to the kitchen
  my legs like dry wood

     i puncture his scruff 
 with a needle again
      he is very good
     he is completely still
 and in the smudge of sun on the lino
  he is a wonderful black-brown today

      i realise he is part of me
       those kitten eyes at 17
          his neat paws
    part of our life and day

 i manage to brew a coffee
     i manage to check the news . . . 

 . . . i am back under the quilt
    wondering why the govt this
      and why the govt that
       and why i even looked
     and what did i exactly expect to find
            in the 
           phone screen
         poptart 
           headlines ?

    the black-brown cat
  has had a drink of filtered water
   had eaten his renal biscuits
       is padding up the quilt
        curling into a circle
    resting his back and warmth
     against the pain in my hips

 i rest a hand on his miniature shoulders

        i still find it a wonder
    that this little naked animal
       likes me so much
      
         soon he is snoring
  like apnea like asthma like a tractor
    no news needed

I MISS LEGO

but what does a vote mean these weird days ?
i vote in a school hall  
it is never busy
i feel like i been good

it does not seem connected to anything else

put a £ on it like everything else  
then we might know  might we ?

i miss legos clear and clean lines
theyre blocks of colour and order

yes what does a vote mean these weird days ?
a paper formality for the next boss

i jump thru this hoop  i tick uselessly now  hopelessly now  
before i would always draw a boat on the ballot

dont ask me why
maybe i will go back to drawing a boat
the ticks made no difference did they ?

the world is complicated and simple  like a sandwich can be
the world is big and small  like the interweb looks

i miss legos clear and clean lines
all the yellow faces always smiled

yes a paperwork formality  
i have never felt anywhere near adequately represented
where are the stipends for poor artists ?
where are the street party budgets ?
when is my turn as judge ?
where are all the benches ?

yes thats the best policies i got right now
oh and lego day
yes lego day

we vote dont we ?
some dont  i dont mind that anymore

we get a gluten free boss now  
we get a paleo boss now
we get a bogof boss
we get an hd boss only on sky atlantic
we get jargon  we get slogans

we get a talentless talent show without many rules

we went and ticked  we go and get fucked
dont make jokes  or thats tomorrows facts

i miss legos clear and clean lines
the roads were clean  everyone had a home

so these bosses they always hate foxes
theyre just a jiggling meat puppet anyway
a lightening rod  reformed ham for the tv

the real power is always behind the chair
it normally looks like a big sack of shit 

i miss legos clear and clean lines
lego went where i put it  stayed there  liked it 

politicians say now 

 'that what we are doing 
  we are doing 
  because we think its the right thing to do'

is that no longer a given ?  double duh
is it counterproductive to say fuckheads and go look at a tree ? 

i miss legos clear and clean lines
the blocks fit on the blocks

papers used to be grateful if a politician talked to them
now politicians rush policy for the 6 o clock news

there was a day in the 30s when there was no news
on this day the bbc played some music

fucking wow

they were right  all those nay sayers  totally right about 247 news

no news ?  fucking wow  

just like legos clear and clean lines

from boing-boing.net

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/newswatch/history/noflash/html/1930s.stm

PAPA POP

- papa ?

- yes son ?

- i
  watched
  the
  news . . .

- oh no son . . .

- all
  those
  sick
  hungry
  children 
  papa . . .
  i
  will
  loose
  my
  mind
  before
  i
  am 
  grown !

- no you wont son
  our comparative wealth
  will keep your mind healthily nourished

- but
  papa
  that
  wont
  help
  those
  kids . . .

- do you want the wi-fi key son ?
  spend some of your xmas amazon credit ?

- that
  the
  best
  you
  got
  papa ?

- . . . yes . . .

- i
  have
  inherited
  a
  world
  of
  shit
  havent
  i 
  papa ?

- . . . language son  . . .

from amazon.com

VIOLENCE

from theverge.com

at school
we
all
kick each other in the shin
and
knee each other in the thigh
and
punch each other in the arm

DEAD ARM or DEAD LEG
we cry out
in victory

  this 
  is 
  Recreational

~

fights break out 

  rucks 
we called them

and
girl-fights 
bring 
the 
biggest 
crowds

savage nails 
biting
torn uniforms

  this 
  is 
  Vendetta

~

  Violence 
  Is 
  No 
  Solution

say the teachers
say the parents

ALL THE TIME

  and
  in 
  English Lit they show us

    Threads 

  in 
  two 
  sittings

~

and we grow up
and we survive AIDS and jobs
and the last-orders pub car park
               
and 
ALL THE TIME
on 
ALL THE NEWS
governments essential armies
serve
down
violence
from 
blue skies

as solution

~

Rambo
Bruce Lee
Travis Bickle
the carnage of Middle Earth

own up - 
anyone
really
want
to
be
Macgyver ?

from bbc.co.uk

WHA? POP TRILOGY

i got suckered 
into
reading news online

instead
of
Writing
the
world
Right

now i am FULL
and
have
to
go shit it all out quick

~

under a crossrail brexit junkie moon
i 
wonder - 

what of all those misc objects
from
my
past ?
all those plastic things
i 
touched and held ?

landfill

theyre in landfill baby

under a crossrail brexit junkie moon

~

it bothers me now

ill and sick and a shadow

that i am in no condition
to
tackle endtimes
or
weather the apocalypse 

like
i
always
thought
i
would

from www.thischristianjourney.com