MISS
this poem
is full
of missing
words
sounds invisible
did not
hear or see
but they are there
nevertheless
think you know
think you believe
MISS
this poem
is full
of missing
words
sounds invisible
did not
hear or see
but they are there
nevertheless
think you know
think you believe
TROY STORY
am
a reporter on the scene
at the siege
of Troy
rushing for a scoop, meet
my deadline
ask ancient poet
Homer what he saw
in such
vivid
inner colours
SCRABBLE DABBLE
my brain
is a scrabble set
juggle roles, identities
am after a triple word score
tire
tier
year of the tiger
hit something
good on that
abacus and so
masc and fem mars
and venussing together
dance
of conjunction
in alignment
about to go full
elastic band
slingshot projection
time gravity bending me
to their will
true trajectory
whispering your name
SHUFFLE
poem
could love
but poem
is scar tissue
contagious
in the extreme
it shuffles up
brushes against me
ruffles reality
pretends to a
slick wisdom
passes on things
you would not believe
except
you are a reader
and so you do
LISTENING
am listening
waiting to hear
what you
have
to say
all ears
but do not ask me
to press this numbered
button or
the other
as if a golden time
will suddenly dawn
wealth
will be released
if largesse came my way
would not know
what
to do with it
ditto
kindness
outside spray of flowers
drooing from a tree
steal all
my attention with
their cerise intensity
such that
words get re-defined
beauty in my
linguistic ineptitude
poetic
incompleteness
press one for
whole picture
two for duality
if you happen to agree or
strongly, poisonously
would adopt
a position
entirely contrary
as contradictory as any
reader might be

MORE
sorry
for interrupting
your poem to
tell you about
this sensational offer
we will
in future allow
you to claim rewards for
poetic miles travelled
imaginative experiences
emotional
transfigurations
all of these
we shall reward
and more
and more
and
more
LET LIE
could write
a poem
or untangle
the big lie
you know the one
tied up in a big bow
charcoal-suited
but went for poem
left big lie alone
(let
big lie lie)
take it easy,
simple
be
glad to
be alive
until big lie kill me:
such a stupid
incomprehending smile blasted
clown-style
actoss my face





FIRST STRIKE
aliens havs taken control
of Parow library
they are using their plasma
weapons to take out
all the poetry
classic novels and
books of philosophy
there were
not so many
but all are now gone
this alien high command
circling the northern suburbs
in their mothership
are openly
celebrating as
a titanic victory
the human race needs
to be even more unread
dull unimaginative
and stupid
to become the compliant
servants and slaves
the great
alien think tanks
are convinced we can be

INSIDE
poem is the fiction
of interiority
trying to persuade itself
it is
what lies inside
ad infinitum
again and
again
and again
sometimes with quite
spectacular transformative effect
(who in
their right mind
would doubt there
is an
inside
after that?)

MANUAL
this is the manual
that goes with
the reading
of this poem
it is not a manly manual
since it has to accept
shifts and slides
facts seduced
and opening themselves
up to
surprise reversals and
ongoing (nigh bottomless)
process of
constant interpretation
leading to
infinite possibilities for
re-
reading, rethinking, reinterpretation
and yet
even though metaphor
is itself a metaphor
is shot
through with metaphor
I do indeed need
to get my meaning across
this stanza break first up
but then
from me to you
so that you might run
with it, or perhaps walk
or at
least crawl
tenor vehicle literature
is a machine says Mr Calvino
but would
not wish for you
to stumble and fall
before
you are behind the wheel
before
you get the feel
before you are writing poetry for yourself
