MY LECTURE ON SATIRE
I was lecturing on satire
fancying myself
up on the stage
behind the podium
but
then
inexplicably
began to satirize myself
tear strips off
launch a monstrous attack
bombard with
vicious jokes about
my total lack of ability
limited intelligence
which I
would share with you
were it not
so viciously brilliant
beyond your comprehension
way outside
your linguistic abilities
far above
your mere mortal
everyday pay grade
SING ALONG
why write
a poem
when
you can
take
a photograph?
why read
a poem
when
you can
take a nap?
nothing beats
listening
to hip hop
smoking
a cigarette
I have a mind
to ask you
to write and
recite
a rap
on that
but
please don’t ask me
to sing along
in the sea of irony
only the humorless
drown
elect to
sink
rather than swim
DUD
I sent you
my poetry
my book
of
failures
every single poem
a failure in significance
coming nowhere
near saying
what
I set out to say
wanted
to achieve
everypoem
a dud
by a mile, by
a hair’s breadth
thinking of your hair
all your
hair not
too
coy here
every poem a mission
a reach
question asked
connection begged
exquisitely
sometimes here perhaps
where not
accomplishment entirely.
SUREFIRE DEFENCE
I must thank you
for teaching me chess
as I said, as
I told you i know
nothing about the game
have
never played
chess before
and so we played the
strip version
where every piece
I lost
I had to divest
myself, forfeit
some or other
item
of clothing
and so it was
you swept across the board
gobbling up my pawns
and devouring all
my larger pieces
until I was mated, naked
as a baby
long into the night
those victory celebrations
you not notcing
my bishops on
same colour diagonal
missing every
Knight fork, every
en passant
but
a bit of
a conflict of interest here
working on my own
and your own
grandmaster ratings
someday I must
teach you every
gambit
in the book;
every surefire defence
WIRING
sorry about the writing
must be
something in
the wiring
keeps
rejecting dead
reckoning
flying
off at a tangent
seeking out the truth
LOVE DUST
came across
a speck of love
dust
in the Universe
travelling at, near,
or beyond
the speed
of light
in slowed down
approaching Earth
like the alien
mother ship
in Independence Day
which became an issue
of global security
national concerm
world waiting with baited breath
praying it would
burn up
in the Earth’s atmosphere
failing which
there is always the
nuclear option
deflect the trajectory
or vaporize entirely
for if that speck of love
should touch anything human
could go extreme viral
wreck our civilization
the one we have spent
decades
building and
re-building
love bringing
the extinction
of all we love
ARTISAN BAND
I try to sniff out
poetry anywhere
and everywhere
omce I thought
a few flashes in
a band on the Reeperbahn
four working class guys
irreverent, cheeky,
full of irrepressible
young life
watched them
began to get excited, thought
I saw, felt poetry there
but they
were just getting better
tighter
practice making perfect
as is the way with bands
some of their lyrucs
and harmonies suggesting
promise, revelation of something
a capturing of the heart
of rock
and roll
but I must have been mistaken
projecting my hopes upon them
tough business, hope
they make it
my artisan band
poems 2 die for