LIVE AND LEARNER
found a book
of dark poetry
under my bed
got me
musing
all that dark stuff
now in my head
verses
riven
with ravens
maybe that
with metaphor
has something to do
tenor, vehicle
more explosive
than Lego
(used poem as a Molotov
fuse once
knocked out a
Tiger tank)
maybe on
second, third,
thousandth and
last thought
if you
have a bed
should look
under
it too.
book could be there
scheming, calling
for you
SALVE
salve aqua
you are the original solvent
it was raining that day when
I figured death
might indeed not have dominion
empathy
entropy
thermodynamics
and the drama
of the self
down in the crypt-like stacks
of the University library
rain pouring down
(a natural watershed here
on the backslope of this mountain)
here to
read
(daily intellectual
spiritual pilgrimage)
lose my head
in the clouds
or deep into
the Upanishads,
ancient Hindu scriptures
which talk
the soul’s talk
talk of
journey and
perpetual migration
trying to
wrap my mind around
trying
to wrap around
my young
mind
the rain falling, gushing down
salve aqua
every single droplet
its
own entire cosmos
NOTHING SO
nothing so humbling
as a tiny insect crawling on you
and not
going Defcon 1 to 5
5 to 1
thinking live and let live
and what is life but
crazy difference?
what is life
but trying to
make it through the weight
of each day
discomfort, sometimes danger,
and always bearing in mind
at the back of your mind
that at
the end of the day
on
the cosmic scale
all this shit might
actually be
your pilgrimage
(people dying left right
and centre
of mere imagination)
SOUPER
it is the souper
souped-up cup
supermen ubermensch
teams of eleven Messis
eleven Cristiano Ronaldos
each managed
by eleven Pep
Guardiolas
no offside law, infinite
omniscient VAR
four quarters, half-
time penalty shoot-outs
everyone wins but
survival of the fittest
massive
reigns supreme
most gladiatorial of
all festivals of galactico
those about to do
do salute
load of their shoulders
now no stupid
qualifying
the algorithm determines
and (above all) relegation free
giving the people
the fans
exactly what
they have been told to want
(who says you can’t get
exactly what
we want?)
no boring overthink
of structures, formations,
systems, tactics
in fact no such thing
as tactics at all
the numbers
determine
FOOTPRINT
your brain is
suffering the side effects
of El Nino
there is too heavy a
carbon footprint in
the cerebral cortex
fossil fuel deposits
there are there but
should not be
touched
until fossilized further
but the whole can be used
just like camera to get
critical snapshots
so we can do a cross
and longitudinal section
analysis
to determine what
across a lifeless mental desert
are the
climate change short
and
long-term effects
HE SAYS
he says
I should write a poem
about war
against genocide
given what
is currently
going down
he has a point
but for me poetry
is about inner
landscape
self-
exploration
the sweet words uncovering
what it means
to have feeling
in a world
where everything that
had meaning
totally
gone
LIKE IT
I like it when
even
in full flow
(the joy
of flow)
you catch exactly
how your
mind works
how it all works
have your
self-reflexive
meta moment
finish the poem
with its special twist
and the Universe
(whether it is
real or
simulation)
smiles and
welcomes you
to postmodernity.
CONJUNCTION
I am writing
a poem
and the world is fucked.
I am writing a poem
but
the world
is fucked
I am
writing a poem
however, although,
the world
is
fucked
am writing
notwithstanding, despite,
in outright opposition to
the
world
being fucked.
I am writing a poem,
have written a poem,
just trying to establish
the precise conjunction.
QUESTION MARK
thank you
for not inviting me
to your
prestigious event
not up
to your level
I think I get
the message
we poetic bottom-
feeders must
take what
we can get
but is it not
“true”, by
definition that
anything appearing
on this stage
part
of this show
is horribly compromised,
by no means
capable of
doing
what words
should do?
poems 2 die for