GUARD THE QUEEN, A MEMORY FRAG

his voice was batman deep

with a record player crackle

& he used to work 

at guarding the queen

but i was 

too young then

on the floor 

with a colouring book

in a world

of shoes & voices

to hold it 

against him

& too small to know

about the bullshit of bills 

PUBLIC FUNDED CAREHOME CANVAS

if youth
is wasted on the young

then health
is wasted on the chipper

i say

prescribe the sick 

lab-perfect medicinal whizz
& 

give the old & retired & forgotten 

lashings of military grade gak

& let the poor bastards dance again

~

& millstone clocks lifted

from their old bread necks

they shall paint societies revenge 

beautiful & kind & colourful 

on public funded carehome canvas

MOON WALLPAPER 1

when the dogs of war want walking
it is 

always 

only 

old men

far away who say aok

& loosed they go
playing drone fetch now
in the concrete parks
low-rise arenas

its hard to see
such carnivores
waste all
that young
fruit & veg

AN IMPOSSIBLE PONDER

older now
&
i look back
&
i wonder

if i am anywhere close
to how the younger me

had dreamed
or hoped
he would be

but i am too scared to look

& i remember now - so was he

BLOATED HORRORSHOW POPS

the day is brave

coming for me relentless again

when it knows
it knows

& the ports muffled crash-booms 
travel over the history marsh

giants playing jenga 
with containers again


~


we all live fast
we all die young

death just takes its time

delayed by our refusal
&
insistent bloated reminisces 


~


a dna accident trail
like a slug or snail

tethers me readable

back 
thru all the 
dodged signposts gateways


~


realitys a timed-out screen saver
default horrorshow wallpaper

im searching for a mouse to kick

thoroughly frustrated with impermanence 
&
the
relentless
relentless
Maintenance Of It All

from screensaverplanet.com

ROSE ON THE PEER TIDE

rec ground-
i am young

group of us 
off pubward

got cash
got keys

i - a Proper Person

big words
body shots

crest a hill

Arriving !

~

crossing the cricket crease-

a long
second
of pure
natural
metabolic buzz

no shame
youth electric
a crusade

memorable 
like 
a 
parking garage attack 

small world
at
my
mistaken feet

~

grolsch & scotch
b&h & bics

sash windows
shoved up

summer night
graveyard song

magical now

then - tight & cluefree

abandoned into awkward embrace

rising
on
the
peer
tide

living 
the coroners report

from pinterest.com

OLD FRIEND SURPRISE VISIT

from amusingplanet.com

we chain smoke
dry buzzed
out packs of ten

Red Band
87p
rough

we strike our 
Happy Shopper matches
just to see them flare

dead end
weekday

TV blue light
leaks out
street-side
front rooms

~

up
the
climbing frame
in the park
we used to know

strange silence
grown-up children
left
behind

talk-chatting the deepness-
bout skys cool hug
nights epic shadow
god or not
&
our temporary meat hq

frosted yellow
bathroom windows
blink out
above
back fence
panels

~

too young then 
to NEED
a drink

so-
walking & talking

inside an evening
inside Proper Time

unexpectedly free
unarranged 
concrete ramble

dog walkers & the moon

catch our bluebirds 
out on the breeze

from fineartamerica.com

NOT BORN TO FOLLOW

with
my
door
key
i
scratch

not born to follow

into 
the 
locker rooms 
vinyl magnolia 
paint job

its from a song

i was young

then
coffee breaks over

and
i
follow

from rogerebert.com

DIRECT DEBIT

when i was young
maybe seven maybe eight
i
used
to
worry about growing up/leaving school
i
would
count
the years till this abyss
and wonder what the vacuum could hold

when i was young i worried
about
BILLS
i realised i had no idea where to send them/how to pay them
a future of panic on the door mat

when i was young
every
night
had 
its apocalypse worries