Surely it goes without saying
a celebrity marriage break up
makes us gasp and open mouthed
and must be discussed at length
and in depth. All the whys
all the wherefores intricately
broken down and due grief
be exhibited in solemn tears
while 12 dead in an aid convoy
bombed and burnt is hardly news.
#poets for peace
Allow Me
to see
the skull in your passion
the teeth in your desire
to caress
the bones of your delight
the sinews of your breath
to delve
the niches of longing
the cleft of floods
I work in a dept. store to be closed due
to recession. Today we get scraps of paper,
hasty redundancy notices, out of blue,
Manager says “Can we move light fittings over
there. And bring those shades over here.” Training sesh
had explained customers need fresh
new items to buy. They soon get bored. Need 30 days or less.
‘item bite.’ Job Centre I’d worked at six months temp
said same. Jobs on boards replaced everyday.
When unsold items are placed at best sell layer.
We have lunch. I need air, to get away.
See St. George’s demolished without a prayer.
Everything is a burning fag end.
I light up that on which I can depend.
is a timepiece.
A sigh is a fire extinguisher.
Held hands are wishes.
A kiss is a gushing tap.
A snog is a succulent slab of meat.
Sex is walking a tightrope.
Engagement is a car park half full.
Marriage is a pink balloon.
Divorce is stale bread.
Remarriage is a reversing car.
labyrinth that awaits your decision.
Paper is a cardigan that’s seen better days.
Floorboards are skintight jeans that bounce
when you wear them.
Towels are fish fingers hot and steamy.
Whispers are hollows in the earth
made by brocks under threat.
is a bricked up
thought that needs opening.
Fresh air is poison disguised
with a mask of benevolence.
Grass is indecent hitching
up it’s skirt in public.
Bones hold up lorries
with a “Your flesh or your life.”
Flowers dirty pavements
with their refusal of the concrete.
Gusts are a blessing against dry
stone walls decayed on the hillside.
Keep a closer eye
Keep a closer hand
Keep a closer ear
Keep a closer nose
Keep a closer cheek
Keep a closer finger
Keep a closer breath
Keep a closer sigh
Keep a closer stroke
Keep a closer rise
keep a closer fall
Keep a closer warm
My palm sweats tsunamis
as she leads us off the transport.
“There’s a seating problem.”
She shows us the door
outside which armed guards
have arrived. “What have we..?
A guard raises his hand,
“Please, Sir, please understand
we do not do this lightly.
A person on the transport
said you spoke the language
of suspicion, and dressed
as you are you must recognise
we had no other alternative.
I could ask you to remove
your attire, but common sense
dictates you have not thought
to bring a change of clothes,
So you may leave the area
now and no more be said.”
We worked our way to a taxi.
I was shocked. I did not realise
the ban was on suit and tie.
on trend,
upgrade
style conscious,
fashion,
old school ,
obsolescence,
need not want
is invention
to makes me buy more.
There was once only one
suit, tie, shoes,
golden age that never existed.
I’m suggestible to better,
faster, cleaner, sexier,
leaner, easier.
Pure impulse. I kid myself
it’s all deliberated,
considered, thought through,
that I’m reasonable.
I need control,
but,.
can’t help myself.
They exploit this need too.
I buy it.
Splits the abdomen open,
uses a sharpened pair
of watchmaker’s forceps
carefully removes all the organs,
smears each organ across
a piece of glass. After each stroke
checks whether it has an effect
on a nearby ant colony. Smears
organ after organ: the poison gland,
hindgut, the fat body have no effect.
Finally finger shaped Dufour’s gland
excites their antennae, a fragrance
of piss they dutifully follow. The animal
experiment has worked. How scientist
and insect find their way.
