Damian Garside

QUESTION TIME

great question
(such that it
should be
bolded, italicised,
written
in capitals)

let me
do it justice

let me
work on it
sit for a week
a month

a lifetime
ten centuries

hopefully coming up
with an answer
summoned
from below
dredged
from above
(the kind
of deep break-through
that might well promise
to change everything)

ideally
by which time
(so many aeons elapsed)
whatever Dawn’s
upon me
greatis by no means
completely redundant

the world
our world (if
it still be)

unrecognisable
gloriously, horribly,
indescribably altered

now
to proceed

what
was it again

that question

great question?

POEM AS PREDATOR

poem as predator
poem as prey

evolution in the
lines as they
spark, splash
their way
past you

guppies, celopods, great
whites
barracuda

give praise
say your prayers

make a vow
take a bow

publish a statement
pen a declaration

never
in the light of
whatever truth takes your fancy

never to let
them take you
make you
fudge; or fold

BY DESIGN

everything
twitches, shudders,
revolves,
devolves
evolves

shades into

melds
dissolves

splits, pulls tricks,
goes longitudinal, lateral.
becomes hybrid
finds
a solution

runs parallel
chases, takes tracking shot,
edits, splices.,
dices
chases, runs
away from
enters into, escapes
out of

connives, convinced,
consumes
is consumed by

darkens,
enlightens
extends
goes out on a limb
shifts and returns back to
resolves then rescinds

enhances, romances,
shadows, throws
shade upon

thinks better worlds, best
world

worst life we
can imagine

worst reality, surreal actuality,
horror show entirely

ones we
are born into
die in
die from

are enshrined in
remain remembered

unless
resurrected, reincarnated,
renewed, reinvented
simply born again

all things
      designed and created unless
worked it
all out themselves
        (what works
best
   for them)

generating their very being
out of something
rather than
nothing

why is there something
rather than nothing?

why
is there anything

when
nothing is central, primal,
presupposes
logically, mathematically
essential

look at yourself
plain as day you
just appeared out of nowhere

nothing
so
much the deeper

beyond
all conjecture

wiser
than

we could ever fathom
from the very beginning
before
the beginning by
inescapable design

such a grip on the plan

SALVATION

maybe I might
have forgotten myself
at that moment
of chaos and crisis

have forgotten to tell you
you have
become goddess
the most
beautiful thing
in the Universe

divine object of
the adulation of the stars

beloved dream of
all of us
self included

who
have known you
loved you
longed for you, wanted you

worshipped you
from this intimate near

or
as with me

so deeply
from afar

that chaos, that crisis
stuff of supernova
of exploding galaxies

put
to one side

alien to
the quiet order and
system
and
death by
intensity

of
which I
for the peace that is
light and
sort of
respite

guess I should write
being perhaps
some salvation

QUITE

it doesn’t matter
if you can’t
do your taxes

fly a plane
or even drive a car

make love to
a man
to a man
or lover non-
gender specific

none of
these things

matter
at all

left-brained, right-brained
schizophrenic, dyslexic

pro-
universal peace
or hungering for
thermonuclear war

everything will be fine
as long as you
never
attempt poetry

as is
well known, and
absolutely historically proven,

starting
to write poetry
is the universal mistake
found throughout the galaxy

incontestably quite
the biggest disaster of all

NOT WHAT IS PERCEIVED

we played chess
on acid

which gave the whole game
a kind of
snakes
and ladders effect

then went
to write our
entrance exams

hard to do
algebra
when all you can hear
is the sound of a mellatron
and bagpipes
in your head

but nevertheless prevailed
did my level
best

spirit level best
left brain right brain
quantum
entanglement at
the heart
of everything
every
single breath

both in terms of the
horizontal and
the vertical dimensions

every shape
and size, every configuration

my eyes
see
my fingers touch

and you in your beauty
naked before me

at the core of love
meaning (and future) of our
stunning species

having recently discovered
all that is out there
if anything is
out there

is not what is perceived

HAVING HANNIBAL FOR BREAKFAST

tell me Dr Lecter
how many census takers
have you yourself tested

and is
their bureaucratic impudence
any guide to flavour

this I ask
as one of your greatest
admirers
who
would have felt
so blessed
to have just a smidgen,
an ounce
of your visceral
eloquence

not to speak of
your tactical acumen
or ease with
which you
freely segue

from devious thought
to diabolical strategy

but
let that all rest

we are both here
for breakfast, to enjoy
ourselves
try
this Jamaican cuisine
you were so thoughtful
to bring

jerk Dr Chilton
lots of prize juicy
essential and
inessential
parts
in a doggy bag

YET ANOTHER

wrote a poem
crashed and burned

nice and crispy
in my coffin

no big deal
this grandest of exits
doesn’t make me
a rockstar
or anything

just another wannabe
following that script

so faithfully followed
right now
you might think it
an algorithm

that old self-destructive
yearning
for excess

yet another convert
to the great
Arthur
Rimbaud paradigm

YOUMANITY

youmanity
meemanity

this is written
in adoring
praise
of meemanity

youmanity
at its apex
when
distant, exclusive,
self-centred
and alone

DE FACTO

the arm and a leg
debt retrieval people
(who might
already
be hallmarked
for, or even be
in the midst of the process
of being
replaced
my machines)

have stamped me on my forehead
laser-branded my file
“terminal case”

and here I am
under cover
trying to slip through
every electric fence by
way of
some dark carnival

commodified down to
my body parts as
sole exchangeable assets

fear
being cannibalised by
seemingly civilized means

but when
the bandsaw hits my bone
de facto, I am
going to scream no matter
how you
spin the semantics

the blood on
your apron
calculator on

your desk unless
chipped into your head