HOSPITAL TEA BREAK POP #2

 

& the heartsick arrive

in the embrace of sirens

pale & 

plugged & 

struck dumb 

with 

fry-up & doughnut regret

~

we do that shrug thing with our mouths

& drag deep

on the cigs

in our hands 

CHEKOVS AMBO

an ambo 

with blue lights 

but siren quiet

pulls up 

in the street at night 

& foreshadows 

the stories

of us all

 

CHALK & CHAIRS

there was no announcement
in any of the papers
& nothing on tv

no sirens
no shoutout
no sign

but i reckon / know / feel 

that all my teachers are gone now
dead / defeated / downsized
retired into the garden with crosswords

& they cant make me
reduce quadrilaterals
read steinbeck aloud
to anything ever again

in 

their 

compulsory fiefdoms

of chalk & chairs

I AM THE MEAT FORM

  & 

maybe i am

the meat formed
in the calm
before the storm

  or
the tiles & red residue
of the eternal kitchens
breakfast gag & debrief

  where
the fridge 

hum & pop
is a lo-fi 

like techno

soft backing to your skin-pick worry

siren panic to your maintenance dread

FIND ME A MANTRA 3/3

well i been
deep in a heavy 
philosophising jag

black rumination
on decay and the
soft condition

then
i
came
down
from
the
brain
clouds
to
the 
sofa
to
watch
a
dozen
or so

trailer park boys
back to back
on tv

i feel like
a nobel prize winning
mathematician
watching a cat
drink from its bowl

sometimes its hard 
to know what
to
think
about
it
all

~

and theres sirens too
out there on the A13

a falling whine
rolling like a tide
that
makes
me
straighten
and look
like a 
meerkat
would

someone is hurt out there
and people are helping

gospel
and
solution

a mantra for these days

someone is hurt out there
and people are helping

bubbles by dadelmann from hugelol.com

STREETS FILLED

street night lights
glow the room
in angles and tangents
and
carnival 
slow shadows

machine pump noise fills the room
with comfort
between
the
crashbangs
of kids and cars
from the trolley rattle street
of
leather jacket cabs
and
new sirens

i hug her for strength 
and existential confirmation
in
the
waking dream night
filled
with street lions
and a tired inner buddhist

and
her small toy tractor snores
sweeten
the 
strange
city

INCOMPLETE LIST

this is an incomplete list of noises 
that are some way comforting 

cars parking in the street
at night
when 
i'm stretched out searching for sleep
the
soft
machine clunk of the drivers door
and
a jimmy-rattle
of
house
keys

whir of washing machine in the kitchen
slowing down and speeding up
at
the
end
of
cycle

music in another room
different
and
distant - muted-clear

a tv in another room
unidentified clipped chatter
of
an
old
pictureless
movie

(maybe just the sound of stuff in other rooms . . .)

milk floats at dawn
their
electric
whine
and
chime
of
bottles
hear it coming from far away down other streets

the shift change siren yelling over the miles
and
fog
horns
out
on
the thames at any time of day

and of course gentle rain on the evening window
or
the trickle-drip
of
rain
out
the gutter after a storm

the hum and chew of summer mowers
just
after
i
got
up
on
some
empty
weekend
morning

NIGHT NOISE

at night

i hear

the electric light

whine

and

i hear the refinery refine

i hear the shift change sirens rising design

and

the

thames boats 

fog horns 

drone

their invisible silent mime