#2255 -- ambivalence

 

2255

7.62

4.iii.26

ambivalence

Tweedledee and Tweddledumber

 

one tyrant is dead

hip hip

 

the other tyrants still survive

 

one tyrant killed the other

 

aren’t they just as bad?

 

how will we measure?

 

an us of them

a them of us

 

ding dong

 

other tyrants watch on

 

will you mourn yours?

 

and the bomb that did it miss?

falls on the school

all the schoolgirls die

 

that was the terror headquarters

must have been

we say so

 

you can trust them

 

tomorrow it’s a hospital

 

everyone’s my enemy

every tyrant knows

 

manners of a monster

 

he was a nice old man

ordered the executions

 

avuncular up close

 

look at the list of what they defend –

freedom and a way of life

us from them

 

and they do too

 

don’t we need a strongman?

 

a tyrant has so many bombs

and guns and drones and songs

and bodies at disposal

 

one tyrant is dead

hip hip

ding dong

 

the other’s just as bad

as old as tired as narrow

 

all the world’s watching

don’t you know?

 

heigh ho!

 

one tyrant’s a terrorist

the other’s just dropping bomb

 

let’s see where they land

oh that was a hit

and that was a miss

 

the orphanage, the cabinet room

the mosque, the church, the temple

 

why can’t we get all the tyrants together?

have them slog it out in a padded cell

make it a spectator sport?

 

we could thumbs down them all

get the emperor feeling

 

what would that make us then?

 

no, but we’d make sure they don’t hurt each other

 

take them back to their rooms in the home

 

give them the pill

 

how it’s all a bad dream

how the world’s a bad dream

 

ding dong

hip hip

how tyranny reigns

 

why can’t we sleep it all off?

 

 

#2254 -- at the furry carwash

 

2254

7.61

3.iii.26

at the furry carwash

ekphrastic for Kathy Temin’s ‘My Monument: Black Garden’

 

no comb, no brush

at rest, benign

 

weave a circle round

patch light inside

 

there looks to be a way in out

it menaces

 

touch so it begins

you’re drawn

 

you’ll sink inside

these walls close in

 

a slip

and you’ll be gone 

\

#2253 -- as far as the eye can see

2253

7.60

2.iii.26

as far as the eye can see

ekphrastic for Grayson Perry’s ‘Animal Spirit’

 

to market to market

these are the words

 

serious reasonable rational wise

prudent sensible fair

 

bear’s balls and bull’s horns

 

tongue out between teeth

 

common sense important

 

hanged from a bare branch

before the endless oilfields

 

objective logical

 

you won’t even see how a planet burns

 

with manger child

and fern crack rise

 

armoured like a clock

rapacious

 

sky’s comet struck

 

all this climbing

now just here

splat

#2252 - sometimes a trail

 

2252

7.59

1.iii.26

sometimes a trail

ekphrastic for Rover Thomas’ 1984 ‘Country called Red Butte

 

sometimes a trail’s perimeter

 

could be sand inside

might have blown here

 

could be where fence will be

could blur

 

as sun comes blinding

 

night in our presence then

 

sometimes rain frames

 

or fork off here

 

see mountain side on

 

there’s thirst

 

the boundary blows down

 

you won’t see moongleam

 

all sorts won’t

 

we’re made of stone

 

we’re travelling sometimes

 

how do we go?

 

great stretches

 

whiff of invisible prints

 

you’ll see back to where you’re from

 

a gust of years reshapes

 

the journey home

 

we’re on the trail

we’re following

 

it’s after life

all this 

#2251 - come out into the sun

 

2251

7.58

28.ii.26

come out into the sun

assertions of presence

haiku/ senryu set for the Gore Cove Track Series

 

come out into the sun

lizard hunting

I can’t see you either

 

dragonflight

leaf breeze twirling

the singing high up goes unseen

 

mangrove tide wading

noon still, plash

city hum behind

 

in the remnants of the fire

a flower

this was long ago

 

in all the broad harbour

world washing up

look down and you’ll see the sky

 

rhythm of words

feet follow

so we go

 

walk faster than the sun

to keep my skin

plain white

 

pause to catch a breath uphill

one line down

go on

 

the leaf blower

‘enough bloody noise pollution’

I yell at the top of my lungs

 

there isn’t a track

I have no camera

wilds are away in me

 

step after step

after step after step

not even nearly gone

#2250 -- around some unnamed cape

 

         

2250

7.57

27.ii.26

around some unnamed cape

ekphrastic for Girolamo Nerli’s 1890 ‘The Voyagers’

 

wrapped almost faceless for the weather

 

angle at the world to come

flimsy rail dividing

 

this sea would fill the frame

 

deck is a mirror awash

 

sea’s higher than the ship

 

but better up here

than rolling bunk blind

 

green gill white knuckle clench either way

 

hard tweed man, long of beard

pockets his watch for safety

who knows what time’s out here?

 

he can remember higher crags

 

delivers the words of solace to

or take them for a mock

 

all this is so’s to be gone

all this is to arrive 

#2249 -- the light is singing

 

2249

7.56

26.ii.26

the light is singing

for the Gore Cove Track Series

 

picture it

tree leaning to assist

 

just a phrase

ledge jutting

 

eyes down too

 

and the fallen

 

all the washed up world

a mangrove creek meet

that’s arriving!

it’s care makes the way

track is a trick of the feet

picture stone for a stillness

voices behind and voices ahead

are we not perching?

ant hollowed

not a breeze to carve

bark, of its own accord

comes down when the yay high sun’s to burn

stumps, fresh shoots

it goes around, but it’s not a clock

there isn’t a wheel

it’s snout along, leash led

that’s the track come after me

 

I make it up as I go