NO SOONER
no sooner than they
amputated her
legs
and arms
no sooner
than they shot them
all
execution style
than
I forgot
thought it best
not to remember
better one of ths carefree,
untroubled people of
this dead planet
the be haunted
for the entirety of
what remains
of my
life
remains of human life
DEBT
wanted to
write a little poem
about suffering
about genocide
but
spam and telemarketing
rained down
from Heaven like
peverse
pay-later manna
and incessant reminders and
encouragement
to settle my
outstanding
debts wonderful, this world
once God
declared for capitalism
poetry and
profit
such excellent bedfellows
like lovers
in Hell
and talking of Hell
there is
fear and consideration
of media troll monsters
children of the children of
the fat uncles and
aunties
who battleshipped the streets
in my small English town
so no poem
I’m sorry
no tiny increment to
add to this struggle
you are
on your own again, I’m
afraid
nothing more than ashamed failure
(with the rest of the world
accused by
this legal Penthisilea
I stand
not with
my brave South African
compatriots
far from this dock)
WARRIOR raw farmer land stealer we that being the writers and intellectuals that survive will divest you of that coat of light dump true dark self in the dock ship you off far far away where you dare hurt nobody get you to sit in solitary explain yourself to yourself dark and light selves in their bitter final conflict
FUNCTION
the weather comes
a volcano blows
climate changes
bringing
Vikings
brutal monsters
from.the North
in my genes
in my blood
and now
the rain
has gone
insne
my only hope
it is raining like this
across the globe
every soldier
drenched to
his her skin
unable
to function
the way I sometimes wish
they were always meant to be
STORY
it’s your story
so stick to it
you need a good story
a whopper to turn
a blind eye
to all
this suffering
listen to those on
the screen who
carefully explain
see
how they attack you
when you can
no longer
believe
so much suffering
but suffering is transitory
we all
suffer
suffering is unreal
now we have
that out of the way
stick to your principles, be one
of the staunch
supporters
good
upright people
It’s your story
and you’re
sticking to it
how you
would suffer
if they took that away
MONSTERS
they are human
like you and me
all of us human
in our
monstrous
capacity
should have said I
and you
were right
to stop me
dead in my tracks
grammatically
something’s need
correcting
are
beyond poetry
TEMPLE TUNE
Odd you should miss it
how you estranged us
lifted up the carpet
pulled back the curtain
suddenly
showed everything
and all that history,
that mythology
came
tumbling down
something ingrained here
about the Sampson option
bringing the temple crashing
about you heads
sadly forgetting
these are
our heads too
our heads too
we were part
of that story
but now we see it for
what it is
a wild, psychotic dream
danger to humanity
HEAD CASE decided today I’m on rock star time feel OK to do so relatively safe will think a few hours come up with a concept for my album go to sleep wake up with all the riffs and chords written in my head
OLD EMBASSY was sleeping in the old Soviet Embassy dreaming of you naked crashing through the wall driving a Sorbonne student, Paris Commune best May Day Parade tank a T-68 I believe, though I stand to be corrected the crumbly modernist structure recoiling under impact looking for all the world on the threshold of collapse and then we made love, parted left the bullding in swopped Che T-shirts swearing undying Comitern Pact exchanging best childhood Cold War finger on the button scary memories such as that ancient Castro Cuban missile crisis alarms blaring holding hands in fear but much secret juvenile love fascination beneath the impenetrable shelter of my school desk
PARABLE
love once
talked in this place
hard as it is
now
to believe it
holy city on the hill
awash with blood
fallen
to soldiers of
Empire
its legions;
its cruaders
and oh
now through the wire
I hear violins, hear
house music
hear Oompah Bands
see Willie Wonka take
Roger Waters on
a tour
of his factory
pointing out the safety
features, hotly
denying
that this rich sweet
chocolate has anything
about it
remotely intetesting
to cannibals
as he suffers not the children
and the world can attest
to every
delight he deals
love once walked
in this
place
born in bombarded Bethlehem
since
synthesized, appropriated
so much our shame
this love
once
here
in this place
poems 2 die for