WAS
was lecturing
on the logic
of poetry
when you
threw
a flower at
me
lucky you sit
in the back
of the class
for if it had
reached me
if you
had spiralled
it like
Tom Brady
might have
bruised my
soul
quite beautifully
Tag Archives: poem
AT APPOMATTOX COURTHOUSE
AT APPOMATTOX COURTHOUSE
proceedings were held up
because the burgers and cokes
had not arrived
then they
stopped shirts, swopped swords
slavery remained the elephant in the room
it was either kiss and makeup
or unconditional surrender
Arnold Schwartzenegger was playing General Grant
the Rock (naturally)
was playing the ghost of Stonewall Jackson
Charlie Sheen
was totally miscast as Robert E Lee
he rolled ten singles in succession
and so Vicksburg fell
and Pickett’s charge was defeated
unfortunately this doesn’t mean shit
because the Japs and the Krauts
invaded on alternate history Netflix
they promised to
have a comnerative reunion meeting
when the time felt right
slavery remained the elephant in the room
(a room
nobody bothered to, didn’t
even think to clean)
FROM THE SOUTH
FROM THE SOUTH
South gives you an
wrong-way-up perspective
right way up
as we
see it
though
blood rushing
to your head, helps
you think better
in the Tarot
nobody clearer
in thought
more clued up
on the road to redemption, than
eye to the sky hanged
upside
down man
and so
I spoke to this soul
looking for liberation
and he
told me what to
tell you
which I
do relay here:
you are not
free from
and will
never
be
free from discrimination
(by the
sharpest of logical
definitions)
if you
do not
free yourself from
the Liberty
to discriminate against.
YOU
YOU
would have loved it
if you had had
the chance
to read this poem
sometime in the life
you are never
going to have
outrage, revenge,
brutal inhumanity
turned you into
a statistic
and I am
not the right person
to tell you
about love, life, the joy
of being a human being
with your death
I have
lost the faith
NOTTOKNOW
NOTOKNOW
crash the cymbals
bang the gongs
trumpet the
chosen
for they
are multitude
you are
so holy
you are
so handy
are so
holy handy
you have crucified
more souls this month
than in its entire
history
did the
little city of Rome
have slaughtered
so many
seems you
were you
to go Genghis
given permission
from
up high
and dig a hole
big enough to bury
all of us
while we all shout “hosanna”
and raise nailed
fists to the sky
SOFTLY
SOFTLY
(for Emily
Maitlis)
speak softly
when talking
truth to
power
walk
circuitously
and carry a small
yet not
too insignificant stick
above all
addressing
the voice that
must
never
be addressed
don’t go for it
call
sign
Maverick
like a
shrieking naval jet
on a strafing run
however much
after-action satisfaction
however
much top dollar
sheer
redemptive fun
TO SEED
TO SEED
I swim
in the hot sea
the sharks
making
a cup
of tea
the dolphins
having a siesta
and the octopus
(whose name is Alice)
has
contrived a garden
that is
itself an
eighth wonder
shells and pearls
fragments of coral
and
sea cucumbers
something so
Imperial in all
her
propensities
(expanding to Empire
the germ
of an
idea).
ROSE?
ROSE?
is that
a rose
or is it
a bullet hole?
red rose
red rose
so many of them
slaughtered in the snow
days of
York and
Lancaster
tried to stitch those
wounds together
but blood still leaking
through that tapestry
carnage
somehow still
in your
poetry
freeze
framed you thought
for all
of history
not forever displaced
from theme to theme
SHORTCUT
SHORTCUT
taking a shortcut
across the river
to the recruiting office
need to get there
before the apocalypse and
before closing time
running across the river
and through the rainforest
where
I can die next
to the bombed-out Church
like Sergeant Elias
defending freedom and
Democracy, for
the salvation of humanity
need
to put my
life on the line
before
closing time
cpuld have been dropped
by a purple haze bird with
voice
of a mini-gun
but my feet just
brushed the surface and
much to my My Lai rapture
I had
reached ths other side
about to enlist staightout
but they needed
to first test
my morality
wanted no Sergeant Pepper
dreamer imagining
peace upon
the
world
community in our time
all you needing
number nine
and me
heading for the station
but it closing
vanishing from
me
like the thing just apocryphal
thing
a complete mirage
and me
passing cross after
cross and
pyre
after pyre
no doubt in my mind
this the last battle, the finsl war
in the midst of fire and
death and blood
something feels reborn
BROKEN
BROKEN
poetry is sublime
code
bought you a nut-
cracker best
to crack it
heard the thunder, saw
the lightning created
by yout exertions
thpught if this
be the reaction
of what we call Nature
tag
as the cosmos
and if sweet Lennon-
McCartney lyrics be
the end
of civilization
what would the lightshow be
like
in store for us
if we were to collide the
exposed
God particles of the cosmos
(beyond
hypothetically)
in order to create singularities
deep underground?
poems 2 die for 