2257
7.64
6.iii.26
the
snake
turned out to be just
another creature
frog in throat, lice mauled
eking out like the rest
quite unaware of symbolic value
nothing at all like the book
had said
that was a pack of lies, unhelpful
it was only after we’d had
the head off
fought to the finish
we discovered this
2256
7.63
5.iii.26
a
shared stillness
treaty now!
first thing in the morning
no words to say
and are we faster than a
fire?
who set?
scrubby in the grey
all weather above
I try to do the ears
I fail
60,000 years of fear
is how we hop away
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
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
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
