reader – Page 3 – poems 2 die for

EMILY SYNDROME

stuck some poems
in a folder
ready for revision
(Oh,
happy day!)

left them not
so long but
long
longer than
intended

albeit without Sun
or air or
indeed watering
at all

so imagine my delight shock
and horror that
day of
days, moment
of reopening

when found the little bastards
to have thrived
and multiplied, some

even grown in size
to embrace the gamut
from
split little
atom through to
Pandora of expanding universe

poem growing up
prophetic,
apocalyptic

whispering, screeching
to the Universe

their
primal truth as mirror
and
testimony (dear
reader)

to all
expanding size

FROST

I am like
frost on glass
on grass

frost
on your window

am much akin

I am
frost on the page
cold
and old

frozen
to the touch but

thaw
when you breathe me

stay with me a moment
that we both
start to
smoulder

both
learn to flow.

MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT

Is this the poem
you have been monitoring?
Is mine
the face in the feed
from your spy satellite?

Are their words here
that triggered
your security
algorithm?

And, even if you
loved or liked this poem

are you
going to swoop down
and arrest or
assassinate me
in the middle of the night?

DUAL CITIZEN

I am writing you
this missive

conscious of the tiny
devil on my shoulder
winged like a bat
trying to
get my poem
to parrot
the rhetoric
that just steams out
of his mouth
hot Nuremberg style

meanwhile, the other
entity meant to balance
this duality
(put stuff in equipoise
to reflect
a Gemini moon)

creature angelic but
in semi-
state of rapture
leaving me to my
own
(and demonic devices)
as it flutters below
the ceiling chasing
less
than celestial light

and so, here it is, a
text which
could have been
more measured, produced
better
individuation

come to your reckoning, I guess
you will be caught
in
   and between,
unsure
    of where I stand
and where
      to put your feet

remember the truisms about
lining and cloud
(Blake’s
little imp)

silver where leaden
but all manner of danger
should
they beam pure gold

I tell you this
with heart undivided
yet
complete dual citizen

AND FEEL

they told me to write
fill
the page

I wrote and
I wrote

but the page
kept getting longer

tried
wtiting in circles
writing into
the mirror

but it
did not really help me

I wrote
and I wrote

page
keeps getting

longer

they told me to
write what
I see
and feel

NEITHER

what happens
happens

look at this poem
it may go
one way
may go
another

I may take it this way
you may take it that

both of
these roads considerably
less-travelled

only chance of us ever meeting
will be on
a road

neither of us picked

QUICKLY

QUICKLY

read this poem quickly
we have not much time

an nasteroid/comet/meteorite
is going to
hit this Earth tonight

but even before which
tensions on the planet ensure
the button will
get pressed

failing which a killer virus
has obviously escaped

and then one or two
of the world’s
super
volcanos
is primed to blow
fill the Earth with pyroclastic flow
toxic dust
blot out the sky, the Sun
so, read
this poem
have some fun

best thing to do now
quite frankly

OBSERVE

watch this poem
change on you

transform
before your very eyes

splitting
of pathways, sliding
doors

two
complete readings
whole new universes
brought into
being

in one
it goes Schrodinger
and the poor little cat
goes completely
zombie
    uncertain whether
when box
is open
it
   lives or
dies; is dead
          or alive

in another
it goes Oppenheimer
heads out
to New Mexico
wipes

out
half
of Japan

saw the film; he’s the man

and here you are
in state of
superposition

I have
never been super anything

neither
in faith, nor reason

watch this poem watch
us both observe

SPACE

what is different
about this space?

its peaks, its valleys

white
noise, grey silence

the windows and doors
with their secret codes

(beg me, beg me
I may well tell you)

now you have read everything
every smidgen of text
visible or in-
visible

tell me what you have come
to comprehend

so far we
are from the grand muftis
and great principalities

together in collusion
syllable by syllable chipping away at
their stark foundations

sliding door moment for
those believing in change

contriving a space here
where we might

stockpile empathy
dole out kindness
dish to whom-
soever
is in dire need

shelter is needed
shelter is necessary

the song could
not be

clearer on this

come! Let me sing it for you,

then
(change in
tone

different key, switch in
pitch

and so let us
now adopt the pose
of silence

contemplate the world
(if any) beyond
this poem

this poem’s afterlife

so to speak
so to spreak

having this very moment
spoken space into existence.

SLIP

SLIP

sorry

I was writing this poem

and my pen
slipped

the text
spilled

all over
the place

ruining our
time together

wrecking our date

feel I need
to underline, bold font,
how
regretful it all
is

how embarrassed I feel

took out my
pen to write these words

construct
an apology

and the damn pen as
pens do
went all Derrida on me