R FOR ROBOT
met a robot
an R for robot robot
fell into a philosophical
argument
about the band
Metallica
she
sneered, as machines do,
when I told her
I could not help
but esteem them
overrated
devoid of complete
creative gift
whereupon
she flashed red outrage
swearing she would
“show this
rock heretic the
true meaning of metal”
which pretty much
ended one truly
beautiful relationship
there and then
ON ITS LAURELS
flint
brass
brimstone
lodestone
iron
steel
sulphur
phosphorus
and gunpowder
stone was stacked
stone got cracked
shot and
shell
courtesy of
the tactical flamboyance
of our old friend fire
naphtha
napalm
nitro
nuclear
could not
let stone
rule supreme
therefore no
resting on
dud laurels
nothing ever
so sure or secure
in the nature
of regime
when walls
take writing
seismic cracks
then appear
IT TOO DISAPPEARED
here I am
dining on irradiated cat
all five beloved housepets
because it was
them or me
all because someone
they could go
bar room brawler
strong-arm delicate, negotiations
and then thirty thousand
megatons took
it upon themselves
to say “fuck that”
I suppose
it adds to our kudos
that we wiped
ourselves out
using the
key equation
of the Universe
which Einstein
wrote in chalkdust
or so the story goes
adding to
every deceased idea,
song, poem, prayer
tale told
my an idiot
ever told
though there
were amongst us
those
who claimed
we construct it
all through the
power
of thought
and so
when we went
it too disappeared
TASTE OF THAT FRUIT
the effect was
instantaneous and
dramatic
at its core perhaps
an incredible, insatiable
need to clarify
and unlinuted recourse
to fiction, lie
she
opening her eyes
wondered if this were truth
or complete distortion
a concen her progeny
would never perhaps
could never resolve
despite
a fatal, laudable,
propensity
to philosophize
but cleavage, division,
there in prospect before her
tore her heart
a future of her sex’s slaughter,
subjugation, horrific abuse
Empires enslaving, making
sure death
the soft option
led away
to terrible fates whilst
great cities burned consuming
the bodies of husbands,
lovers, fathers, children
if not in
the name of power, then
the higher ideal of
cause most sacred
and so many wars
between every manner of tribe
every conceivable
category
the high and
the low
chaos
and order
at each other’s throats forever
and no one
to remember, to bother
to enquire
as to the devastating wonder
enshrined in
the very taste of that fruit
QUAINT READER
a quaint reader
a quotidian reader
a quantum reader
whatever ilk
of reader you are
there is something
on the page for you
not so sure
that it professes
to be poetry
counts as a poem
would love to get your feedback
see when I hear from you
if we are both open to all sorts of possibilities
WITH THE END
OF SCIENCE FICTION
as apes we are
quite unique
see how shaggy sweet
and smart we are
dancing a-rout around
the monolith
about to
leave the cave
start
the arms race
tell our fable
to the stars
the twinkle, twinkle
bright ones
not the ones with
planets of
the dark forest
but the blessing
of evolution, breeding such
an array of
heights and sizes
coats of many colours
has not quite had
the effect
sought after
nothing like difference
to breed the hate
that kills
and if
not hatred
then a road, no
THE road to power
which has me wondering
my the monolith
bothered
came our way
gave
us our truth
out there somewhere
with the end of science fiction
(as unique apes with
unique ape planet
seemingly star
child
bound
unless resting
on our laurels)
SEEN THROUGH
I see how
you have framed me
called out
my “ridiculousness”
elevated your
great words over
my paltry efforts somehow
as if
language itself
is beholden to you
as if you confer its meanings
give it
the right to
exist
restrict its speech
to your narrow
conceptions of
life and
humanity
which are
not as absolute
fixed as you think
soon to
pass
soon
to be seen through
HIGHWAY
quantum field
quantum jungle
quantum plantation
such bad politics this
stuff subatomic lets
itself lean into
what you see
is not
what
you get
what you
don’t see
is indeed the point of everything
incredible the complexity
the breath-taking paradox
the rigour
of the mathematics
what you
see
are things reflected
in mirrors shaped
from the beginnings
of this fantasy
strangenesz spread out
as far as the eye could see
using powerful
radio and
space telescopes
if in fact
it was able
to see
and so much of this
that we are obviously
predates us
has set up
a network
criss-crossing the cosmos
best as we can tell
labouring the non-
locality of all our spooky action
ghostly entanglements
love-link, hierarchy and
the smart chain and
cord
of the
return to smartest time beyond
that of all our
prior times
of dire
rebirth and re-
enslavement
WHAT’S
what’s in the poem
this poem
that poem
unilaterally in the poem
not inside your head
upon reading it?
if the world were poetry
would we even consider it
worthy of our attention?
if poem
were the world
would we scranmble to read
own, control, colonize it?
so many books in this building
complicated by the fact
that it
is a statement in concrete
wears its style on
its sleeve, being that
of brutalist utopia
best utopia we
could ever in all
our lifetimes, hope to see
the nerve of them
those that write the script
the authors
of our being
worth
fighting for, never
had it so good, are all
in this together
pledge
reveal
prestige
this
the most dangerous poem
in the room – – what
room you
ask
the deception
running so deep
got
you boxed in here
what’s
in the poem
let us just
say it is
what
you say
no one cares much
anyway
INJECTION
went for my injection
usual medical
not fuel
my covert ops
state sanctioned
regulat shot
of plutonium
most
essential element
for avoiding conquest
and mutually
sssured annihilation
and ensuring
the vibrant health
of our frontline
in the trenches
of World War Three
drove
all the way
to the hospital
avoiding missiles
and drones
with angelic namrs
past
all the paid-for
refurbishments of
the President’s Palace,
entertainment centre
and house
and prison they built
shaped
like a prism
splitting the light according
to length
of wave
and
resistance to
criminality
poems 2 die for