Author Archives: Damian Garside

LITERALLY NOTHING

said nothing
did nothing

the T word
sticking between
your teeth

the S sibilants
hissing, sounds
of a dog whistle

stuff in the syntax
and semantics
fouling your mouth,
poisoning your body

getting you to retch
spectacularly, like
some
   mythical, mystical
drunken creature
spewing up
    a bucket of
prize truth
to paint
   ideology in

and thus, obviously,
in this all new death climate
everybody
    rushing immediately
to
  your aid

fearing
   fatal loss to
the cause of annihilation

an end
to this state of exquisite madness
if you should
end up with

nothing
to say

BEHIND YOUR BACK

According to the Chomsky
model of language acquisition

poetry is universal
written into our heads
we do not
learn it
    from scratch

in fact
spend our early years
simply unlearning it
(the parts
     that do not fit
that do not rhyme in Rap)

so, to
put it in
basic terms

we are all poets
yes, part of
the current economic,
social and political systems

but also

part surreal,
       with our split brains
and who knows
what other opposites,
oppositions, quirks, quantum
superpositions. contra-
dictions
    and dualities

and thus the rush
the impulse (like first sex)
to put
   pen to
paper

hit that
keypad
see what comes

flashing
  on the screen, staring back
at you
from the page

the poem itself
(albeit in its
as yet
unrevised
version)

instant poem
just add salt, sugar, spices,
condiments, distilled
whisky or water

wormwood to
kill any
pretentions
to taste

so much easier than
writing fiction – – worlds
apart really

and
    heart and soul of the thing
(if you would trust me
and allow
me
   here to reveal it)

in bad, bad times,
times of tyranny,
unashamed dystopia

poetry is
pretty much
our last resort

thing you can write
hands tied behind your back.