Author Archives: Damian Garside

ONLY ROCK AND ROLE MODEL

ONLY ROCK AND ROLE MODEL

they played black music
darker than anybody
these white English boys
demonized
by the establishment
in trouble with the constabulary

those
guardians of the imperial peace
ridiculous in their choice
of millinery

and here they are
seeking shelter
that goat of
a lion
prancing across
the stage with s striped
plants Gaga

hooked on twelve bar but
soon that skin
was shed
    and your tunes stuck
their claws into me

lesson after
brain-twisting lesson

voodoo voices
soaked in ragged truth

needed something mesmeric
to get ms through
years of
   strrrtfightimg

only rock
and roll they claim

        give me
a break

CLEAR

CLEAR

it is the cracks and crevices
that one must probe, be eager
to peer into

willing to follow to
whatever logical conclusion
it lead to, even if this
be a crevasse

or deep marine trench
such as some
oceans be renowned for

and here I am
in that liminal space
between parking
lot and Mall
snacking on Sushi
as I stroll towards
a fast food joint

no need
to name them, they are
a household word

and there in a crack in
the new pavement
a leaf green
grasshopper
minus
  a few legs getting
swept up
by a broom

same green that be as
the Kawasaki racing green
of my old
cafe racer
motorcycle

such out of
   the everyday stuff
not difficult to
spot if
   you take
  a look.         can see

and me
always on the alert for
glitch in the program, mis-
quote
   in the subtext

the Zen of the mindful
from
    the stupor of
all that is
empty, hide bound and
mindless

razor edge thin, which
is why
   we stay clear

LIKE A BILLIONAIRE

LIKE AN BILLIONAIRE

I’m shopping
like a billionaire

the app
revolutionary
the benefits fabulous

am in a digital paradise
buying whatever
I desire
purchasing everything

bonds and stocks
trusts and shares

my house full to its limits
stacked floor to ceiling

rsilways, hotels, 
airports and harbours,
vast tracts
   of underdeveloped land

got me feeling like a billionaire
         carving up the world
on this
     unbelievable app
full
  of such radical potential

hundred dollar
sandwich
   as yet unbitten into

there to fix my hunger
should I get round to eat.

IN THE FLESH

IN THE FLESH

here’s a feast
for the ages, for your fingers,
for your life, for
all times
for
your heart and soul

in the flesh
carved from
the bone my dear
carnivours
where all is sweetest

some thing left
for you to pick at
that is quite outrageous

panopolies of cauldrons
spawning
much smoke
and music

Hell crazy indeed
these mountain landscapes of food

full sausage processes
meet off-cuts of Heaven
meaning
all you can eat

but where
would carnival be
without its underworld

the darker whose secrets
liberation
the sweeter
the taste
(and as much vice versa
as you are
willing
to hear as much
outright contradiction
as you came for today)
.
harvest, autumn
seeds and leaves
all is in cycle
all
rise
must fall

precarious all this plunder that
speaks words
of wonder

whips up
pudding praise, storm
salad of words

buffet
smorgasbord
release
your inner Viking
dormant marauder

still spinning
what gives, is this
not
eternal engine simply
infinite machine?

those modernists of yore
clattering away, force-
feeding
their typewriters

fry
what is
deep frozen (deep
fry, twice
the ice fry in batter)

prove
food for thought as to
how revolutionary
one can be

meat of an idea full
of succulent goodness something
paid the price for

off cuts and fillet
what nestles close to
the heart
attached to
the bone

a sea of food rendered
an ocean of flavour

all that is sweet bitter sour
full savoury indeed

all in the garnish, style
of the spices

the street in your food
pushed to its class
limit
stretched to
haute cuisine

feel it
in your marrow as you
ride the wild rides
eat
the squid
counter the octopus

take
a last bite

drink your last sip

time left to cure and

let
the stew brew

the rich liqueurs percolate

here’s a feast
tosink your teeth into

MURAKAMI

MURAKAMI
“you must have big rats
if you need Japanese steel”
                 Kill Bill, Volume 1

I read some Murakami
that we might
be on
the same page

if not
dance together
at least be able to
whistle
    the same
    tune

which I hear now
floating over old Edo

before
    it got firebombed to death
turned to ash

rose again as fresh colossus
spreading its fingers
into how
    we picture our world

GOLD STANDARD

GOLD STANDARD

you are
the gold standard

best
touchstone

asked for a handout
you chopped
       my head off

split
the atom

stole
several body parts

oh my staccato life subject
to this debt slavery

roll over credit
        what was     now
roll over
play dead
      or actually die

all for a few scrappy
coins in the offing
kind of
    smaller
     than atoms

and me
under such pressure to
edit down
    this poem

get it in tune, right tone
sufficiently complicit
in every single way

FRIDAY 13TH

FRIDAY 13th

it”s Friday 13th
St Jason”s Day
in September

so wear your
hockey mask children
you know you have to
deep down
want to

nothing like
slasher jump scare
to bring that
delight home

and this the message
that we telling
the monster exists
and he is
pretty much
indestructible

will
  keep on
coming into
the Universe ends

and even then
that might not stop him
something about
dear Mr Vorhees
precedes everything

was here
long before the idea
of safety
was even born