INSIDE
poem is the fiction
of interiority
trying to persuade itself
it is
what lies inside
ad infinitum
again and
again
and again
sometimes with quite
spectacular transformative effect
(who in
their right mind
would doubt there
is an
inside
after that?)
poem is
special
forces
is soldier in the war
against being
dumbed down
will
teach you
how to fight
feed you ammunition
one, two, three
programs on TV
crafted supremely and carefully
to dumb
us all down
enough there for more than
the odd pot shot
need some serious serious
poetry
great poetic guns
with heavy
metaphoric artillery
your intellectual life
here
in my hands
WORLD OF DIFFERENCE
there is a world of difference
between splitting hairs
and splitting atoms
between
quibbling pointlesly
and raising
the temperature of
the planet
a couple of
million degrees
FIXED
Wasn’t broken
but you were determined
to fix me
and so
here we are
I am here
(you where you are
having slimed yourself
in somehow)
and me just waiting
for the wind
to go
chainsaw, the Sun
to shoot fireballs
and every molecule
of my being to evaporate.
IMPOSSIBLE
I cry out
many times
cry out
but am
not heard
you might not think it
to read this poem
what point is there
crying out
in this poem
crying out
in any poem
poetry being a vehicle
of containment
a thing
of control
not a place to cry out
the pain
of each cry
rendering the poem
impossible
PUT DOWN
Put down
your candy crush game
(would so
like your candy
to crush)
but first a word from
our advertisers
if you went professional
option you would get
premier service and not have
to worry about anything
meanwhile in the simulation
that is the poem
we are either particles
or waves or
both or neither
so let me crush your candy
whatsover
catch you me
cheating on the two
slit experiment
by the time the last line enjambs
many many alternate universes
(eat your heart out
Michelle Yeoh)
up and running, teeming
with our joint energies
ESPRESSO
was malingering in Hell’s
best coffee shop
started to fancy a coffee-
coloured barista
serving espresso
shrouded
by steam
and yet
still no mistaking
her demonic beauty
(so on point with
these fine surrounds)
and me
trying to catch her
jade green eye and
lure
it
towards me
as if she might fall
for a run of mill, ordinary devil
such as
the one there
in the corner
writing this thing
MONETIZE
monetize
demonize
I am
writing a new thesaurus
looking for
a common denominator
even as you
wait in the shadows
crumbling
to dust
once wondering but
now given your answer
as to
how it is
all going to
end
RAIN
the writer writes
the end of
the world
but the paper
is putting up
too much
resistance
somehow he just cannot
write his way to
his vision of
an ending
quietly cataclysmic
apocalypse falling
upon us soft as rain
SOFT
your poem
is soft
is malleable
when you call
it answers
fawns
rolls
at your feet
always there
to do your bidding
is as safe
a wicked pleasure as
anything the Universe
contrived
to devise
as harmless an intervention
as can be imagined
desperate to
appeal
this
I really feel
deep in the heart I’m
pretty sure I have
poems 2 die for