FABRIC

FABRIC

was born
death pale

take this fabric, for instance,
test its texture
tell me
what you feel

under your fingers
do you read
it as
a Wordsworth, or would
you say
it strikes you
as far more a Keats

all the synesthesia of silk
though never
on its way
to eclipsing
Rimbaud

I wish

this on the other
we might find it closer
to hessian

switching metaphors
not the smoothness of
Scotch, more Irish
or Bournborn
         (Sigmund slip, meant
to say “bourbon”)
          
the cross-hatching
something though
it must be
said

could convert into a shroud
turn it into
a tapestry

let it run
and run
          give it epic strength ditto length

NECESSARY TO DENY

NECESSARY TO DENY

couldn’t change the world
so redrew the map

found myself
          choirs within choirs
and so preaching
to all of them

turned
the globe upside down
to deconstruct,
decolonize,
     reverse the
missionary position

strew the land with
ever-fresh amendment
hoping
      (about to launch-pad
to the firmament) find

in those old runes
truth
    necessary to deny

TO THINK THEM ALL THROUGH

TO THINK THEM ALL THROUGH

millions of players
billions
of moves

this thing
getting into the wiring
gone exponential

gone the days of the battle
of the few
for ultimate
recognition

and there I am
with that all
you can devour
never-ending list
of gambits and defences

all those permutations flashing
through my mind
in an instant

take
a lifetime to think them all through

THICK AS THIEVES

THICK AS THIEVES

lots of writers getting taken out
these days

necessary evil
since they
thick
as thieves

stealing oxygen, stealing
comforts, stealing ideas,

lucky that running total
gone exponential

poets, thinkers, prophets,
novelists, satirsts,
investgative journalists

only got themselves to blame
for rocking the, boat,
refusing to believe
what has always
been clear
we simply have to believe

AND HERE

AND HERE

And here the great feline wisdom:
girl cats
are full of babies
boy cats
are full of
shit

together, in collusion
and open source
conspiracy with AI

they have contrived to
stay true
to their wild
little selves
    overruling us
as every turn

commandeered the infinite swathes
of digital realm

chuckling to themselves
on how short they sold us
close to
   their tiny hearts as
such beloved suckers.

REMEMBERED

REMEMBERED

he flew his plane
into a carrier

not for victory
or defeat
with honour

but to be remembered
that someone
much like himself
or like her (better)

might have the occasion
to find his tiny words
near
   or far
into the future

the scent of
the cherry blossoms
as always, as remembered

even in
       these soft, lilting ciphers
not to be forgotten at all

POLARIZED

POLARIZED

got both my eyes independently polarized
can now
scan for ultra violet
track via
infra red

still
am bad with obstacles these
upgrades notwithstanding,
find things hard
sometimes to negotiate

take Libra, sign of order
despite itself sometimes,
its poets, philosophers
lovers
leaving me wholly unbalanced
seriously wandering
off the beaten track

making me
strong, yet
also killing me

let me measure
two of your natives
point for point
in your
immaculate pans

my eyes, my heart
and mind especially
in your presence never
failing to
deceive me

that sheer stuff you were
wearing both
at that moment

failing in the art of subtly
suggested seduction (sadly
not
having read the right page
in that ancient manual)

whilst
your counterpart, short and sweet when
it came
to required etiquette

claiming
her conquest, cave-woman style,
no kicking, no screaming,
dragging me off
to her gilded cage

AERONAUTICA

AERONAUTICA

The air is full
of living languages
I don’t understand.

In the shapes of things
as they appear today

mutant evolution, the end
results of lingering
chaos causalities
(nearly wrote
casualties)

as if
   those butterflies in China
have grown dragon, perhaps
pterodactyl wings

and me trying on my old
battered Stetson hat of
Joe Cool casual cowboy

alone at my post, SS Totenkopf
or Das Reich division about
tiger tank over me
panzer
   right through me

will be my karma
a relief of sorts

the air
    full of sounds by no means
all of them Indo-European

my book
    of many colours closing;
enjoy your schadenfreude

SO MUCH

SO MUCH

So much regret in this poem
I know, Oh yes I know,
every year
I see you more clearly
remember things about
you I assumed I could
and could forget.

Until
   there is no more clearly
there is an
end to clarity

as far
as I am concerned

you always had so much clarity,
I hoped it was, back then
and still today,
this last day

clarity enough
for the both of us.

So much regret in this poem,
I knew I was going to regret
the pain of writing it.