DAWN POP

the clouds are torn paper

& the wind
a long & stale
bogarted exhale

setting all the pink roses a tremble

THE FIRDAY NIGHT BOOKSHOP OF THE MIND

in the friday night

bookshop of the mind

the oversoul
does a reading
just for me

when i am stretched out

debased on the sofas throw

~

& these poems
out the ether

well i can let them go

like throwing back a fish

my hands must remember

they dont need to always

stain the paper blue

DIGRESSES WITH REMINISCES

the orator
drops his paper
reading some prayer about shepherds

& he digresses
with reminisces
about his own sheep farming days

there is no conviction
in his blunt diction
when he says

sheep are stupid
they turn their toes up
at any old thing

at the funeral
we were at
last thursday noon

JUST SO MUCH PAPER

 

my 

cardboard folder of poems

was 

suddenly just so much paper

& i took my hand 

to the train station home

in the tunnel vision

of october dusk

the 

city laughing

in 

alfresco clots

THE TEST CONTINUES PART 2

 

so

write different

then

e x p a n d e d  ?

thats the plan on paper anyway*

~

& the test continues
& if it seems like
i am repeating myself
well thats just discipline
mining the vein
clearing the blockage

the test continues
yes

~

interlinked ?
interlinked yes

*pun intended

FOUND LIST 1

tattoo designs

go to the island

citalopram & cat cat

amitriptyline & the windmill

damascus steel & bog wood

new balance

boil eggs

supplemental supplements

photos from the car

photo - Conurbation Hill from the Dagenham Archive

TONIGHT & EVERYNIGHT

& then -

my dirty washing written down -

some block or fissure
must be on the mend
&
my soft bridge strengthened

for shelter travel & trade

at least 

thats the intent

~

& you know

if this was paper

it would be bonfire night

tonight & everynight

photo - Does Fire No 8 from the Dagenham Archive

DULL HOOP FUCKERY

birthday looms 
need a dr

need my sickness
validated

on gp 
printout
paper

for
the
endless
dull hoop
fuckery

of the obstructionist
bureaucratic caper

from merriam-webster.com

DOMESTIC POPS

1.

go-go-johnny-go-wheels
set your clock by him

go-go-johnny-go-wheels
8 AM out for the paper

widest smile
ear flap hat

mobility scooter
on the 
white line blacktop

well he died last week

found out 
his name
was peter




2.

another ambulance
goes up the street

two yesterday
or one twice

in a 
quiet rush
to unsave
the
not dead

& theres
a pause 
of coincidence or respect

in the metal pummel
of romanian
driveway drills



3.

window frame
throws a punch
of
negative space

black stripe cuts 
the
backlit 
sunlit 
vapour
i blow

bedroom
10 AM

nothing to see here

still the wind makes a fuss 
in
the
chimney
breast

from pinterest.com

I GET IT DONE BUT SO WHAT

no one walks into an alley like this alley
not here
not tonight
not in this part of this town

sky forbids stars
traffic is hushed

its well lit 
but so what ?
rot spreads

painted words
on cement walls
harsh illiterate faded true
but so what ?
mutants and sheep

under my boots is
the busted plastic corners
of a busted music cassette

magnetic tape giddy and sleek and brown
unspooled into the shape of wind

a busted music cassette
i think
that takes me back
oh yes
that takes me back

but so what ?
its over now

i got a piece of lead pipe
its all i need
get it done

i smoke butt after butt
like each is my last butt

theres yesterdays paper
trapped between the breeze
and a hard place

obits make the front pages these days
and i feel like
yes i feel like
we are saying goodbye
to the 20th c
day by day 

but so what ?
thin sliced meat

i throw my butt
edge my shoes into the dirty white light

i got a piece of lead pipe
its all i need

i see a shadow at the other end
i wonder if its who its meant to be

and if that matters
any more

finish it
rot spread

and so what ?
get it done

from pixabay

GOTTA LAUGH

you gotta laugh

you gotta try to laugh
when
you
feel
the awful fingers
of
mad bad truth

climbing their bitten nails
inside your exhaust port

not rock
not paper
not scissors

beats a real laugh

~

look at our heinous fuckpile 

as if from space
as if from history

and
you
will
find
which teachers
only repeat the sea

and which
surf the moons tide 
as home

jj moon

FOUR DEAD POPS

OH NO I'M DYING !

  half way
    to
   the 
 indestructible destination

  i  find my wisdom learned
      is
     not 
   easily applied

    from
      out 
     the 
      bargain bin
 of
the  united supermarket of britain


OH NO THEYRE DYING !

  patients gurn on tubes

    skin like paper
   robbed  of colour

       they
       are
     in  between
       this
        world
   
    and the . . . ?


BEFORE DYING     

      in pain
       on a 
  stone and  dogturd island

         tescos now
  where there were 
        druids  before

   
BEFORE DYING 2 (YEW TREE)     

     play
      in the 
    playground

  while the playground
       is
      here

 but play-it-safe children
        
        as

   j i m m y s a v i l e

       used
        to
        say
     sunday nights
      on  the  bbc

from www.museumoflondonprints.com

MOANOLOGY 2

i got too many computers.  
dont know HOW i got so many computers.
i been GIVING them away.

try telling that to a ten year old me as he watched in horror and awe at S***** P**** kicking his vic20 to death on the school yard concrete.  
that was 198? - deep in teacher strikes and the schools on fire ! grey smoke damaged text books to learn about crop rotation and the War of Some Roses for the rest of our school sentence.

you HAVE to go too.  
dont you ?  
illegal not too.  
but after ?  
not allowed in AT ALL.  
i'd love to go sit at those crummy desks.  
walk those halls.  
remembering.  
and feeling relief its all over.

i did once.  
after the pub.  
we hoped a fence.  
walked round the buildings.  
tried a window.  
unlocked.  
we climbed in.  
sat in our old seats as best we could remember them.  
had a nose up the corridor.  
them left and went to smoke weed on the hockey pitch.

silent alarm wasnt there ?

see blue lights flashing off concrete walls.  
torches swinging round the blocks.  
we went off the hockey pitch to the hedgerows next to the farmland. crouched down.  
watching.  
SO pleased we'd left. 
and not sauntered deeper in.

cant go back.

anyway.  
computers.  
i use them but still i get a cramp up my back stairs that i have to WRITE out with pencils and paper.

stationary.  
it even smells good.

and the best place to keep books is the bathroom.  
did you know that ?  
stops them drying out and the glue going dry and yellow and wrong like all my old Bond paperbacks.

from www.thebookbond.com

A SOMETHING

a drill
a sander
a something

like someone unzipped a pocket
of angry white noise

a council estate scientist 
experimenting thru paper walls

just
when
i
want
to
lay down

southend flats from telegraph.co.uk