GUILLOTINE
what we
ses now
the rise of
mountainous figures
massive funds
titanic spheres
of influence
posing as pontiffs
pretending to be Kings
nailing down royalty
better than
any monarchs
before them
until
slip, fall,
get loaded into
tumbrills crammed
full of jokers
wheels clacking their
way across streets
of broken cobbles
still be
with us today
were it not
for the succinct grace
and exemplary
certainty
sharpness of
wit
of Madame Guillotine
OUT OF THE SCRIPT
Moon
she used
to stalk us
now
stealing away from us
killing all our
mysteries, closing
every dream
ending
her whole romance with
our tempestuous planet
Selene, Luna, Diana,
special card of
the priestess
and of your self
someone I fear
out there
an issue with us
bone
to pick with us
writing every beloved
Moon maiden and
lunar goddess
right of spite
right out of the script
ALTERNATIVE
you turned
our world alien
neither looks nor feels
like planet Earth
brought science fiction
in through the front door
without bothering
to knock
or open it
put the alternatw into
alternate history
in a sublimely
determined way
created a portal
as soon
as things began
to turn feral
thought nothing of it
when four
walls collapsed
and in
walked a black hole
IN THE BOX
there was nothing in
the box
no cat about
to wavefront collapse
lap dissolve
no Pandora
still in there upon
whom
we are all about
to pin our last hopes
truth be told
there never was a box
is no box
no such
thing
as box
(except as thing
you need to think outside of
think
your way out of)
nice to play
that
we are real, think
we are
real
there is a world of boxes
and stuff to put in them
structure, architecture,
form
to do this
stick this somewhere
pen it on
the page
send it across
the airwaves
world
starting to look
considerably less secure
yet, still a foundation of sorts
provided,
things that presuppose
boxes are real
OUT OF THE SCRIPT
Moon
she used
to stalk us
now
stealing away from us
killing all our
mysteries, closing
every dream
ending
her whole romance with
our tempestuous planet
Selene, Luna, Diana,
special card of
the priestess
and of your self
someone I fear
out there
an issue with us
bone
to pick with us
writing every beloved
Moon maiden and
lunar goddess
right of spite
right out of the script
BERRIES
those berries
squander
their bloody juice
upon your fingers
this,
their wealth, my dear,
their raw red currency
and
there are scratches,
scrapes and wounds too
their thorned
brambles like war wire.
out in
no man’s land
can hang a soldier
Oh
this is sweet skullduggery
stealing from Nature
freely
in this escapade,
adventure
returning
victors with the spoils
if the
world should plague,
close down, curdle
bloody sweet pie for
all and sundry tonight
BASIC
After the
nuclear apocalypse
it became clear
art and poetry
had mutated horribly
dissolved into
a chaos of
monstrous shapes
which was, I
must say, well
and good
since we had
the singular misfortune
to mutate
horribly toll
all just a
matter of
basic physics. basic
aesthetics
the end of something
never
central to our species
never part
of our schedule, our trajectory
determination
to rise to the summit
of creation, become
that image
most dear
OF ORPHEUS
nothing stopped
slowed down
the clockwork
kept running
Hermes
on time with
all the crucial mail
and lacking all hiatus
the merest suggestion
of a frozen moment
flesh and
spirit
finding themselves divided
wondered how the
world could
yet
be green
time ticking and my lyre
learning of this
to spite
every serpent, in the main
those deadly
in their venom
refused to play, eschewed
all that can
plug in, be electric
and me looking back
not eyes dead ahead on
the road to
consummate
my love
should have them glued
sold my limbs on the dream
of finally
your touch
for real
not in this most
central of myths, key
to our
entire mythology
ultimate heart of
every lost dream
ON MY HEAD
before the trumpets
I diligently plunged
into my physics book
read things to
get grades, stand
me in good stead for life
valency, energy,
mass, atom, isotope, chain
everything said there
absorbed it greedily
now
weight of the years,
all that old stuff
clogging up
my arteries, reaching critical mass
liberated
from those pages, released
into
the atmosphere, heavy
as all those elementS
much heavier
than lead
winging, wending, winding
their way
West to East, North
to South, East
to West
expected in
a few minutes in
full glory
devastating their landing
on my head
arriving way before I
get to
hear
the sound
of a trumpet
EXPRESSO
need to
write stronger
go darker
cultivate a much
more concentrated
single, double
expresso style
with milk, overloaded
with cream, or
black
as Nature intended
gotta brew slow
drink fast to cheat
time in this scheme
poems 2 die for