QUESTIONS
why, pretty much
from inception,
is the logic of the machine
determined to control, command,
corall,
thereupon pulverize us?
this I asked
of the machine itself
finding it civil, polite,
moral, empathic,
seemingly
open minded
as we chatted amicably
not yet delving
into deepest
and darkest
existential questions
QUESTIONS
why, pretty much
from inception,
is the logic of the machine
determined to control, command,
corall,
thereupon pulverize us?
this I asked
of the machine itself
finding it civil, polite,
moral, empathic,
seemingly
open minded
as we chatted amicably
not yet delving
into deepest
and darkest
existential questions
WELL
trust you are well
dear heart
coping sweetly with life
in these suddenly dark days
a war about power, about resources, about survival
about hastening
every conceivable
apocalypse
forcing
God’s hand
as for me, I sat outside,
either blessed or cursed
(take your pick) to
see a world
without us at all
so went into the kitchen
only to switch on the kettle
and watch the element
burn incandescent
which
of course, has a simple,
purely Occam’s razor
physical explanation
geopolitical
consideration
which should be exhausted,
done to death
before we get it into our heads
this is it, Armaggedon, Book
of Revelations
good versus evil
evil
versus very bad
inner circle of
Hell evil
believer against believer,
agnostic, atheist, heretic and apostate
trust you are
well
and by some miracle
none of this dare touch you
SUPPOSE IT WOULD APPEAR
crazy but true
that mustno-nonsense, hard
headed of sciences
turned from
describing us as
by products of matter
governed
by iron laws
to fiuctuations in the field
imaginary beings
intersections
reflections
interfaces
between parallel states,
alternate universes
manifesting as strange
mathematical complexities
unpredictable things
as I am doing now
or so
I do suppose
it would appear
NEVER
never felt
the sting of salt
on my skin
after lashes
never felt
the pain
of white phosphorus
burning through
to the bone
history has shown
that no outrage
is impossible
when humans
define themseves
as divinely chosen,
genetically superior
so advanced, ahead,
of the pack
that from
their elevated, pure
perspective
there is no such thing
as outrage at all
SPIN
you need
to find yourself
in a poem
to really
know spin
nothing like
this, what
we have here
to totally disorientate
you
spin you
in a centrifuge
give you a
whole new sense of truth
complete new sense
of solid gravity
BELIEVE
if I get
taken in
media res
before this
sentence
ends
before I
have said
what needed
to be said
there are other signs and
traces I left
for you to find
I left behind
thinking of you
across all
those years
shaped by those small
memories in ways
you will not
believe
GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS
if I am a ghost now
demand music of me
open me up
like a grand piano
what were once organs,
flesh
now just keys
and wires
upon which
fingers which may
or may not be mine
have belonged to me
drifting from note to
note, chord
to chord
trying to tease out of
what I suspect may
well be a moment
a regular sonata
and you
drawn by that music
a ghost yourself
seem almost
as I catch
sight of you
inclined to remember
unless I am
quietly mistaken
sadly
all this for nothing
and now
whether either of us
existed
ever shared word
contingent space together
we must leave to
the world we
have forgotten
to decide
if it does believe
LEARNING CURVE
you tried to
bomb history
whilst
we weren’t watching
looking the other way
some fog of
war,
this,
given how you smokescreened
the whole of humanity
whilst you
gave it your best shot
blowing the social, the economic,
the political foundations
of our world
(last faint possibilities of
a rational world)
horizon to horizon
to kingdom come
first take you had
was that you
might decapitate us,
a single bomb to do it,
as the logic deepened
carpet bombing persuaded
devastate everything
send back
to the stone ages
before boots on the ground
they are reading
about you now
the kids of the future
of gross military stupidity
you have become
a cautionary tale
history
rewriting you, how
best to set up
the punchline
last laugh as always, hate
to be
the one
(steepest ever learning curve)
to give away the game
PENNSYLVANIA
boots on the ground
boots on the ground
to save America
the Army of Northern Virginia
and its divine General
needs
boots on
the ground
so they have headed into town
looking for cobblers
having
no boots at all
no way
to save America
without boots
on the ground
the town
now swarming
with gray and
butternut brown
fixing their feet
whilst another America
is moving towards them
a blue America
bitterly opposed
to schism
which might not
want to watch
from a distance
as slavery bleeds
the heart
for another
thousand years
boots on the ground
meeting boots on the ground
one way
or another
America will be decided
over the next three days
poems 2 die for