THE QUIET TENNIS BALL & THE DERELICT SWINGS

see how quietly
the tennis ball sits

in the fringe
of the lawn
this morning

~

a tier of sadness

arrives 

on the car park air

as you swing wide the door

& another 

washes over you

from the derelict swings

like layers of silt

home now & settling in 

HOPE ON ICE

the sadness

is under the ice

i keep the hope on

as i play 

wait & see

in the mad dancing shadow

of the proverbial pan

SPIDER STROKE SCRAWL

the sadness
of the dream *

follows me

into the morning
like
a
rucksack
dense with old diaries

listing

missed opportunities

in

spider stroke scrawl

*
the old lady lost

among moving shopfronts

& the delayed deliveries 

arriving decades late

WEARING COPPER JACKETS

the drs surgery
on-hold music
triggers a heavy sadness

&
all
the
other many morning times
i had to call & wait
rattle off
from out me
into 

the telephone firmament

wearing copper jackets
in the bumpstock milieu
&
waving their sad flags of sickness

EMPTY SWINGS KNOW, A NEWS FLASH POP

 

heavy sadness 

is the other sunshine  

there in the snapshot moments

the empty swings know

next up 

    heres hermes with the sport 

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

TIME DIAGRAM 3

in this clock plague of turbo instants

all there is to do

is blink & hope for

please

please

please

not me
not yet

not NOW

& accept the heavy sadness

of the ruined bodies fall

from latimes.com

BBQ BREAKFAST PREP

'there has never been a sadness

that cant be cured

by breakfast food'

says ron swanson

LAVENDER BUSH

i felt 
a then
indescribable sadness

by the unremarkable
lavender bush

afraid of the bees
that days night

&
tomorrows day

A BOOK TOO YOUNG - POPS

1.

but 
it 
was 
all 
so

DRENCHED

in sadness

an empty bird table 
in early winter dawns *



2.

strange snacks 
in after school
armchair bunker

reading a book
too young for me
i had read before




3.

the sick tease
of downtime

slim pickings
&
less fruit

cliche escape
in 
classic retreat




4.

school demanded
&
streets were anxious

i was razed
condos on hold

in the fog & razors
of sepia mist & stone

from healthline.com

*

i would feed the birds

it was therapy

i cherished every block-paved step 

small freedom on the garden path

before the exposure of school 

MO' POP POPS

1.

did we grow up
to get here ?

adult ville . . . 

the single use park
the think yard

we can see all we left behind
thru bathroom glass and old sun

but back then
it
was
its
own
horror

i was an alien in a skin suit
when it should have been gravy

so i make gravy now


2.

theres a black presence

a dark weight

down by my feet

i am still in bed at 11 am . . .

its not sadness tho
its the cat

he purrs
hes asleep

his incisors framing 
his miniature chin

from thetangential.com