Tag Archives: poem poetry

INCH

slowly
inch by inch

ripple
by ripple

you and me imagining
we are edging
closer to Heaven

closer to the truth
(whatever
that might be)
about the Universe
about ourselves

in this post-everything
world we currently inhabit
post-modern, post-structural,
post-punk, post-capitalist,
psychedelic,
        funkadelic

where
    you and me
doing the best that we can
at every turn failing

focused on
     completing
this ancient ritual (at
least its
bare essentials

basic equation)

QUESTION TIME

great question
(such that it
should be
bolded, italicised,
written
in capitals)

let me
do it justice

let me
work on it
sit for a week
            a month

a lifetime
ten centuries

hopefully coming up
with an answer
summoned
       from below
dredged
from above
(the kind
    of deep break-through
that might well promise
to change everything)

ideally
by which time
(so many aeons elapsed)
whatever Dawn’s
upon me
greatis by no means
completely redundant

the world
    our world (if
it still be)

unrecognisable
gloriously, horribly,
indescribably altered

now
     to proceed

what
was it again

       that question

great question?

POEM AS PREDATOR

poem as predator
poem as prey

evolution in the
lines as they
spark, splash
their way
past you

guppies, celopods, great
whites
barracuda

give praise
say your prayers

make a vow
take a bow

publish a statement
pen a declaration

never
in the light of
whatever truth takes your fancy

never to let
them take you
make you
fudge; or fold

QUITE

it doesn’t matter
if you can’t
do your taxes

fly a plane
or even drive a car

make love to
a man
   to a man
or lover non-
gender specific

none of
these things

matter
at all

left-brained, right-brained
schizophrenic, dyslexic

pro-
universal peace
or hungering for
thermonuclear war

everything will be fine
as long as you
never
   attempt poetry

as is
     well known, and
absolutely historically proven,

starting
   to write poetry
is the universal mistake
found throughout the galaxy

incontestably quite
the biggest disaster of all

DE FACTO

the arm and a leg
debt retrieval people
(who might
already
   be hallmarked
for, or even be
in the midst of the process
of being
replaced
    my machines)

have stamped me on my forehead
laser-branded my file
“terminal case”

and here I am
under cover
    trying to slip through
every electric fence by
way of
some dark carnival

commodified down to
my body parts as
sole exchangeable assets

fear
    being cannibalised by
seemingly civilized means

but when
      the bandsaw hits my bone
de facto, I am
going to scream no matter
how you
   spin the semantics

the blood on
your apron
       calculator on

your desk unless
chipped into your head

SUNDAY POEM

just do not write
poems on Sunday

am largely out of body
have
no time for it

at least when
I have checked the calendar
am absolutely sure,
certain beyond
any reasonable doubt

this Sunday
is indeed a Sunday
(is what
I signed up for
both
   in terms of
religious doctrine and
the NFL)

having
  such reverence for this day
(its every scheduled sport and
     form
      of Sun worship)

that I
   kill my imagination temporarily
bank my quill, stymie my pen

rip every
keyboard
     out of its socket

nor would I wish to write
on day of judgement, rapture
or revelation

lest the very words themselves
realising their mortal sin
jump out of their skin

failing to
    find love or any
positive appraisal

doomed to greyzone
anonymity

neither succeeding not
failing

almost
      lost

almost saved

RIGHT TO THIS

you withhold
you restrict

cut me down
to my exact calories

keep bliss
from
my lips

a life
without sustenance
freedom, and flavours
the fruits of our
old orchards

refusing us
     the solace
of cinnamon, odd binge
on
   potato crisps

the better
to deprive
       and deny

keep us
pinned in this strip
(that old
      biblical picture
from
down deep South
in Africa
     your textbook for this)

better
   to starve and compress and,
yes, bomb
to bits

whilst you
choke on your plenty

build a
    Kingdom of Heaven

purely
   for the chosen

immortal exclusivists.

DIAL FIVE

dial one
to dial back the intrusion

dial two
for communicating inhibiting
solar flare
or pulse

or one of those bombs
to create electro-magnetic havoc

dial three
for nice-sized asteroid
take out your switchboard
once
and for all
do the trick

dial four
for twenty eight day after
virulent
zombie plague bacillus
leave you
guys
feeling

not quite
yourselves

dial five
for perfect payback
catch a bullet to
shut you up
stop you
phoning for good

dial six
for the offer
you just can’t refuse