BOATS FLOAT
boats
float
boats
disappear
screws with my mind
the causality here
loaded with refugees
now
nowhere to
be seen
to some
a sadness
to others nothing
short of
palpable
relief
the sea so fraught,
so fickle
so
uneven
in its favour
bringing
horror to all
horror in sadness
horror in
relief
but worse, far worse
awaiting the survivor
no perfect storm at sea
ever came close
to this mother of
maelstroms
once
setting foot on land
FOR DESSERT
the Oompa Loompas know
how to do
they even know
how to do-be-do-be-do
shovel in the sugar
sing their moral song
like little purple and
green machines
what on Earth
could go wrong?
but I think my fault
is knowledge
know just too much to do
would like to go with Wonka
down the crazy-trip ranting Rimbaud
tunnel
time
after time
after time
after time
write a pretty little
dissertation or two
Ah, yes Charles,
I remember in this
tide of failure
you hard on my case
pressurizing me
not to do it
not to do it
and yes I appreciate
the terror of failure
of thin reward
quite incommesurate
with the absolute labour
Oh this entropy of the cosmos
brutal vagaries of the market
wish I had the power to
go supernova at the drop
of a
hat
.
but hold back
until they come crying for
needing
absolute victims of
the insanity of pure demand
the purity of supply keeping
them in thrall of their maestro.
DAB HAND
if a hand, or perhaps
a whole arm (left
or right)
appeared out of nowhere
for a friendly shake
would you shun all
contact? would
you comply
for ghostly, spectral hands
are not
what they were
are
by no means as
friendly as
their original intent
no means as transparent,
trustworthy
free of malice by
accident
malice by
demonic purpose
set to realize the darkest
unconscious dreams,
fantasies and
nightmares
of that wonderfully charitable
circumspect
and spiritually endearing
soul
of Man
SHADOW
I am so pared down
pear
for me is fruit
of duality
what a pair! (derision, vouce of
so-called social standards)
what a pair! (voice of crude
sexual appreciation, titillation)
my Mum and me
were a true pair (I do
not lie
I have seen the pictures)
I have divorced
myself
from her memory
for reasons I cannot possibly
possibly divulge here
but is this separation by
paradox not our great
communal experience
tragically
connected in that
we are all
so separate, all so
alone
and in the end
all we were is just shadow
shadow
but even shadow can
blemd, pool
I am shadow so separate
I have gone already
shadow and self
only unity there
can ever be
DRAW
let go!
let go!
there is no poem
strong enough
to get me to hold on
no words to feed me with
the power to overcome
all the bad
you said, all the bad
you did
and so
I fall
having let go
the world rushing
up to meet me
to imprint me
with the truth of
failure
and loss and pain
and fathers and gravity
those dice
you can tell that
they read
snake eyes
my birth, my life
luck of the bad draw
KEY
here’s a door
here’s
a key
come in
help yourself
look around
check what it
looks like
to be
in my dream
to find yourself free
to explore, free to
follow
your heart’s desire
find what
you need
since this,
this is my dream
I have
what I need
have found
what I need
here
is the door
here
is my key
NAMED
Lovecraft
Strangelove
have to got to
love the
love
embodied
in your thinking
enshrined
in your very names
ROULETTE
Do not confuse
redemption
and
civilization
so easy
to transpose
and though
evil be banal
there is nothing
to preclude
an elegance
to murder
brining out the
choice caviar
and a polished chrome
pistol
for Russian roulette.
PENTATHLETES
there is Hell to pay
in the non-fiction section
storms hurricanes temprsts
rising temperatures
signs of alien life
stuff creeping out of books
not even waiting
for anyone to read them
danger money for
sales assistants, librarians
as well
as they hack their way
to the undergrowth
to reach the stacks
no sign of an increase
seems like no one
of substance is
left in the union
no old style hero’s journey
pentathletes
able to have their backs
poems 2 die for