THE PAST IS ANOTHER COUNTRY

1. LIGHTS

the sun is fuck-tired 
and
brain-drained 
by 
too-long summer days
and 
falls over itself 
in relief 
by 7 pm

leaving
the
streets burning all horror-show
with
paranoid security bulbs 
shining showbiz spotlights
over
block-paved flooded hatchback drives
and
commuter headlamps scan the colourless bricks
swinging
like
prison
searchlights
  the night 
      full 
    with 
      silent 
      alarms

  we
light optimistic bath candles 
to shut our eyes to
  and 
stroke laptops under reading lamps
like pets
  and
cook to the dim radio DAB displays
of quiet jazz
  and
  then
dream before the dead blue flicker
  of
evening tv
selling
  life insurance 
          in case
and 
  beach holidays 
          we deserve

from mindfulbalance.org

2. TOURIST

  in
the awful autumn depression
  of
gut memories and cold-sweat nerves and dead afternoons
  i
  hold
  the 

    Gone Winters

with oven gloves and teflon love
  cos
    who
      can
        really balance
that
old 

    Tourist Pain

with
the

    New Fool

hanging
by 
fingernails
off 
todays scribbled diary ?

from howkapow.com

EASY TOURIST

its not so much that i want to travel
more
just
fly
to the cities of the world
in
the coma hum of planes
and
smell
the
air
of
a
different timezone
out 
in 
the 
airport cab rank night
and
then 
later
to
breakfast on a broad avenue
or
forgotten square
before
checking
connections
and
taking my bag and any notes i made
to
the
next
modern tropolis
on
the
list