DO YOU THO ?

i give afternoon tv

all the progress

the mornings fresh air 

gave me

it fills the spaces
i cant look at

with stories 

i wont believe

& while i grant it
credit & thanks

i know its a tool box
& never a church

BASKET ON THE STAIRS

 

progress travels a hard road
of hairpin turns & dead ends
in the
bad swamp

toll road
of unfriendly hands & siren song

its the basket on the stairs
baggage & reason 

in there with the ready washing

its destination 

as universally accepted

as its eventual arrival 

is assumed

too few hands tho

commit 

to handle grasp

OUTSIDE THE CAMDEN LOCK SKUNK FUNK

the national front

bomber jacket babies

surfaced streetside
to flog tired bile

& always 

they were heckled 

down down & away

by the greenpeace / cnd / big issue posse

outside the camden lock skunk funk

& suede jacket sales


~

i assumed progress was momentum

not a shrinking isthmus

oh my rosy glasses

HEAVY WITH WEIGHT

but
now

ignorance flown banners 
stain the innocent sky

&
i
look
down
the
sofa
cushions

to see 
if i cant find
where progress 
went to hide

heavy with weight


~


i find a peanut

&
hear a bassline
in the plumbing

i find a pen lid

&
hear horns celebrate
a hesitant dawn

i breath in orange
i exhale dank swamp

these days
its electric smoke now
&
my coffees in bamboo

all heavy with weight


~


& 
everyone i know with kids -
i tell them their kids

have to save us

us animals 
cord cut
from 
the cemetery forest
& the murder plains

& they nod

heavy
with
weight


~


&
the madman
who brings them down
& 
turns the pressure up

well
hes as laminated as anyone

but peeling
from the heat

heavy with the weight

from muscleandfitness.com

TALKING TO ARTHUR NEXT DOOR

we start with a greeting
hes doing whatever he does
on his drive full of cars

football shirt on
or not shirt at all

today its no shirt at all

i am taking out rubbish
i probably dump it
in the wrong bin

and we ask each other 
if we are ok
and i will tentatively 
approach the fence
keeping my options open

he will tell me something
about
the
weather / family / hospital visits

i will say something similar
which he will not notice

next he might tell me
something i told him 
three months ago

but today its something almost new
its about the guy opposite today
who rides up and down the street
in electric mobility scooters
with his brothers
of an evening 
now its lighter later

theyre men he says
theyre liable

i am laughing and tell him hes jealous

he will only notice 
that i disagreed
and his head will not compute
and
he 
will
escalate vaguely

the way stuff is today
i dont like it he says
dimly self aware 
he has nothing 
specific to say

this is going nowhere
so i ask him about 
all the cars on the drive

my son-in-laws he says
they got parking charges now
in his street

i ask wheres that then ?

oh where he lives
he says in surprise

i think blimeyjesus 

the way stuff is today . . .
he is saying 

i diffuse him
before he brings up
the team of blockpavers
from months ago
who he assumes 
are bulgarian
and that carjacked van
they had nothing to do with

i diffuse him
with a broad sweeping statement
of the nature of progress
its inherent temporariness 
our fickle interpretation 

and as i am loosing him
and as he doesnt listen to me anyway
i say
the more things change 
the more they stay the same

a saying i mull over often

and he likes that
it has a ring to it
it sounds clever

and we sign off
with a joke
about supper
the kettle
afternoon naps

we both go in
and i dont have
to look at
his great hairy corfu brown belly
and his struggling childs eyes
anymore
or
those
small
growths
in his armpit
that look like
the legs of a tiny octopus
climbing
out
of
his
flesh

from siteadvisor.com

BRIGHTSIDE

reaction is - duct tape
              over
              the
              webcam

reaction is - read some history
              read some 1984 
              for reassurance
                 that  
                 things 
                 have 
                 been 
                 this 
                 hysterical 
                 before

and tho thats no so great is it

theres 
progress 
to hold onto - light
               in
               the 
               margins

even chomsky admits to hope

and
  it
    might
      still
        be 
          possible 
            to 
              live 
                in 
                  peace
         and
       explore
        space
       together

    so  very  sorry
    epic  regretful 
    and 
              wiser

from pinterest - gnome chomsky

TRILOGY VOTE-POPS

FRIDAY

i
brim over 
with
horror drama
and
i
say

  goodbye sweet progress
  at least
  i saw 
  your face

i am silent and sick

my
street
an
ancient projection

from
the
museums movie archive



WEEKEND

tears dry

straws are grasped

dominoes totter

but
trees are STILL green
the
lawn STILL needs mowing
in
the rain
thats
the same

and
we
watch
a 
rerun make-over show

on
purpose



VEIL LIFTED

veil lifted

pull it down pull it down

cos
suddenly we are aware 
         we are naked
         and
         we 
         are
panic-bluffing

that
its
ok

when its not

and
our balls are in awful danger
on
the
sharp and spiky streets

from truthsinlife.blogspot

PARKPATH WORLD TO THE CAFE

all i hear is 
my
discount
trainers
making soft taps
on
the split tarmac

early PM

brown leaves tumblefloat on ghostwind

the A road
is a
hum
more imagined than heard 
like
the future
or
like 
approaching progress
invisible
beyond
browngreen horizons

and 
when the phone
in
my 
pocket
buzzes its muted rumble
the
parkpath world to the cafe 
suddenly 
appears 
a
relic
from
a
longgone time