NEVER
never felt
the sting of salt
on my skin
after lashes
never felt
the pain
of white phosphorus
burning through
to the bone
history has shown
that no outrage
is impossible
when humans
define themseves
as divinely chosen,
genetically superior
so advanced, ahead,
of the pack
that from
their elevated, pure
perspective
there is no such thing
as outrage at all
SPIN
you need
to find yourself
in a poem
to really
know spin
nothing like
this, what
we have here
to totally disorientate
you
spin you
in a centrifuge
give you a
whole new sense of truth
complete new sense
of solid gravity
BELIEVE
if I get
taken in
media res
before this
sentence
ends
before I
have said
what needed
to be said
there are other signs and
traces I left
for you to find
I left behind
thinking of you
across all
those years
shaped by those small
memories in ways
you will not
believe
GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS
if I am a ghost now
demand music of me
open me up
like a grand piano
what were once organs,
flesh
now just keys
and wires
upon which
fingers which may
or may not be mine
have belonged to me
drifting from note to
note, chord
to chord
trying to tease out of
what I suspect may
well be a moment
a regular sonata
and you
drawn by that music
a ghost yourself
seem almost
as I catch
sight of you
inclined to remember
unless I am
quietly mistaken
sadly
all this for nothing
and now
whether either of us
existed
ever shared word
contingent space together
we must leave to
the world we
have forgotten
to decide
if it does believe
LEARNING CURVE
you tried to
bomb history
whilst
we weren’t watching
looking the other way
some fog of
war,
this,
given how you smokescreened
the whole of humanity
whilst you
gave it your best shot
blowing the social, the economic,
the political foundations
of our world
(last faint possibilities of
a rational world)
horizon to horizon
to kingdom come
first take you had
was that you
might decapitate us,
a single bomb to do it,
as the logic deepened
carpet bombing persuaded
devastate everything
send back
to the stone ages
before boots on the ground
they are reading
about you now
the kids of the future
of gross military stupidity
you have become
a cautionary tale
history
rewriting you, how
best to set up
the punchline
last laugh as always, hate
to be
the one
(steepest ever learning curve)
to give away the game
PENNSYLVANIA
boots on the ground
boots on the ground
to save America
the Army of Northern Virginia
and its divine General
needs
boots on
the ground
so they have headed into town
looking for cobblers
having
no boots at all
no way
to save America
without boots
on the ground
the town
now swarming
with gray and
butternut brown
fixing their feet
whilst another America
is moving towards them
a blue America
bitterly opposed
to schism
which might not
want to watch
from a distance
as slavery bleeds
the heart
for another
thousand years
boots on the ground
meeting boots on the ground
one way
or another
America will be decided
over the next three days
WELCOME
the beauty
of the poem
all this poetry
is that
juxtaposed
to everything
it is
a complete lie
but by
the time
you reach
the last line
it most
certainly
won’t be
but if it is
still is
seduced by
its magic, totally
convinced, absolutely
on board
you certainly won’t see it
FAIR CHANCE
thanks for agreeing
to take the test
just
answer the questions
talk naturally
we are not trying
to trap you
do not
desire
to catch
you out
want to give you
every opportunity
to express
your humanity
alternatively
process the data you
require to
convince us
you are
just like us, no
difference
to speak of
fair chance
to fool us all
WELL, I’M THE ONLY ONE HERE
move along
nothing iconic
to see
here
no mind-bending moment
of Bickle improvisation
no need
to watch
bug-
eyed
start
to understand
what it means
to imagine yourself
saviour
go full vigilante
with a .44 magnum
and array of
backup guns
street cleansing
ethnic cleansing
no huge leap
of the imagination
to imagine you
sprout wings, twin
jet thrusters
targeting and
guidance systems
a battery of
air to ground ordinance
to sort
every problem out
CHOSEN PEOPLE
you were supposed
to teach us the truth
bring us closer to God
did you
perhaps forget;
have greater priorities
act as an example
lead children
along the path
of righteousness
not carpet bomb them
target their classroom
blast them into
shattered fragments
bits
everywhere
meant to lead
towards the light
not steal and
kill to survive
live
at others’ expense
burn your way
to supremacy
brutally self-
convinced
lighting your way
with the utter
worst of cleansing fire
poems 2 die for