#68 - my sheltered life

8.3.2020 (IWD)

68

my sheltered life

or 

an argument for guaranteed minimum income

a nose rubbed in

sorry self

and the life unseen

terrible things have happened and will

here under rock where hid

it all was done to

you see how it it is if you weren’t seen

a file and up to you to prove

if love were turned in upon

having to live in such a place

not remembering to touch

but they stood over

a ruined language

shallow breath

and your unshaven cheek

these are government departments

for instance because too much, trapped

cage in the desert, camouflage

imagine having to

prove yourself incapable

daily, weekly, when called upon

it having been told you once and spreads

a pittance works you thin

how I can’t know

I haven’t seen

the ache is dislocation

bored bounce for the end of the bed

plumb depths

or if I took a care

come sideways of a rhyme consider

they’re waiting to fit you up with the pigs

and araldite the locks

could go naked

no one knew

this is all about attention

not a question of care

was done to

I was nothing wrong

could work

were certain conditions met

they would have to understand that

would be a day to decision

and come to blows

catch what’s going

the rest achieve and had careers

grow, ponder

all winds ill

my own miasma

there isn’t a breeze to touch

how’s the dole working for you?

there’s someone in that such a percent

cover a cough

brighten and dim

never you’ll never catch up

the cruel joke’s life

of course one sees oneself in

strew questions

but will any catch?

no one can shake this one awake

there isn’t a jury would ever convict

the infant to half life 

#67 - faith leaps

7.3.2020

67

faith leaps

lank paddock

where the fences fall

freshen the air with light

feel the hot breath of the past behind you

edge of a cliff and dare

fools to and not

you can’t go back

onward and upward someone said

you wouldn’t tear the wings off angels

knives out

all of the plagues still at

teeter a little

who hasn’t?

everyone’s saying ‘over you go’

small furry creatures in front

even they are heavier than air

yet we keep our confidence

none of the others know

family clock stopped

telly bung

that’s why we’re out here

this is what’s required

prospects gone

winds tested for ill, good, in between

countdown, ignition, loads of suspense

cashed up, all waiting on your wink

into the unknown folly our fate

do you think someone’s presiding here?

we came by easy steps

a deep breath takes you

it’s moment to moment we go 

two poems - a childhood of habits and skin

66

two poems

a childhood of habits

and their voices before I ever was

can I call my own?

letting the eyes into light

and traffic of the air

here we crack these knuckles

something sweet

think of yourself at times

bring turd in a pot to please

later the habit of being an adult

dangly or inward

hair will grow here

is pity permitted?

have we that yet?

later in life to polish

the orbit

seeing oneself as a machine

so must wear out

and there is calling into question

habit of wandering off

of going unnoticed

and the calm

time shown

it has a door

behind to go

don’t look for things that aren’t there

and somewhere early on

it must have been

I fell into words

skin

is not much colour really  

but bury and delve to be believed

here I we you are in one for now

and all the is we are

shake hands you’ll see

it holds the oceans in

and when they say ‘sad sack’

consider Marsyas for flaying

like a solid line around

though here’s mosquito landing

think of the scrub itch mite, its map

feel through

suggesting someone’s border control

or blistering in fire

(result of raffle)

permeable to some degree always

soaks up comments too

skin of your nose by that

or none off mine

any other means

it has been painted, branded, pierced

invasive species

grudges in blood

this is what you see

breathe through it

think bark

I know they look at me

say ‘touched’

for going on like this

who isn’t wasn’t won’t be?

you try love without one

you can fit breakfast in

all told

even words

consider

the tongue is edged with this

and let’s not mention naughty bits

delicate to

make yourself breathless about it

all told

in and out of

sausage sizzle

which is the meat wrap

who will win?

see how it’s not fitting

though fitting in

just nuzzle

comes from the skin found wanting

till more of the same

how else to bear the bones about?

and commented upon

unmentioned else

since looking in the mirror

and wrinkle up

or lose the glasses

fruit have this

and, bite or knife, you’re in

an arrow to the heart through

bullet if for din

you can make more by biscuit tin

a mist of it and slip

some you see through on a slide

though sub-cutaneous is grim

skin of your teeth

puts hair on them too

we speak degrees of separation

drink this, tumble up and over

mortality we read in rot

fresh flesh lets light

we have thrown extras on

augment

cream wrinkles

vaseline the lens

let the eyes go dim

old inscriptions fade abattoir blue

stand out in the rain

and it drips – this skin

I love a one rhyme wonder

give me the jinnee rub

here, oil my lantern

when hair stands on air

think where

chicken and egg

so we begin

#65 - death (for fear of abstractions)

5.3.20

65

death

for fear of abstractions

death has these little wings

often smaller than seeing

hovers, you wouldn’t think so

but picture the dark – flag, scythe, sores

no one calls

nowhere to go

death has a life of its own

comes static like applause

by obsession, for instance

picture of a coffin

as good as my word

you can tire the body with thinking too much

wear out the mind with these strokes

head or heart?

who’s first?

starts with a sniffle

then the daisy push-ups

some go to event

somewhere sunk under skin

a continent of

come slip through a door and

how many lines?

which animals follow?

a special deal on suffering

consider a little transmigration

any other mob could be right

still willing to the end and after

takes a kind of rigor

it was just a scratch, a little cough

still lightning strikes

you’re down

dreamt as far as that

sleep gets in

won’t go 

#64 - two poems - a little domestic (pest control) & mind the gap

4.3.20

64

two poems

a little domestic

or

pest control exegesis

unresolved conflict is the motor of plot

none better than if eternal

as demonstrated on the billboard

with the rat and the roach

in a face-off

after the Buckett’s Way

just past the nine mile

north of the Terrace

paddock from drought and fires not far

lush now autumn rains

road rolled all the while

they’re at each other

implacable

as if the unsayable

had just been said

meaning

from our point of view

the rats’ll look after your cockies

or

it won’t matter who we send

in the end

the roaches will prevail

mind the gap

open and shut

zero one

between these languages

or just our tongues

from adulation to excitement

living where the clock has stopped

arousal and the last bloke stroke

between the thousand rubs

ten thousand

take care

there may be others there

it’s every word between

numbers and letters

sentence and execution

be mindful of

the trapdoor fall

the tick and tock

weather always in between

an unavoidable delay

but doors will close

mid conversation

between the master and the slave

death and the disease goes on

moment to moment

be wary of the knowing and not

wake to always and after

where the spark has flown

do you see a way from there?

#63 - fear of abstraction

3.3.20

63

fear of abstraction

first salvo or notes towards

what cannot be put into words

outlives all that can

conceive eternity an eye

there isn’t another for it

still, see out see in

sun or underleaf

between me and day

or lines

the flimsy hour of yoga

in almost gone light

close to lost

own dark tangled

for all the journey worlds are

step out of the truth a moment and sing

that was why fell far from the tree

as if a theft had for respect

nation – army, flag and arms

coin sung to wear away

here am

and otherwise no deal

there are no pictures of the place but

a ladder falls away with steps

that was why

clouds of hope past thinking in these

signal is shifting

attune

itch where bit

yes these are instructions

(re-visitings)

and try to get away with it

the one who comes to the window

beaks it, always beginning

wordlessly as

glass darkens through

symphonic for a laugh lament

must we unadorn?

guilt for what I’ve done I the dream

fur for protection

no one can land

keep the blood inside

running, flag it

atone

you will have noticed

the moment is always gone

(effect of saying so)

so every one is several

every several had to be

words are where we went

an art is not to say

far away they knew me

a long long time ago 

No hinternet
No telling bone
No wonder where I've gone

#62 - two poems - my corona and eventually the house goes too

2.3.20

62

two poems

(from fires)

after a half a summer of rain

such is the hour

lush pasturing

all wings seen 

I love the clock vanishing

with everything-to-do

eventually the house goes too

in the screen of green

in leaf, in bud

in flower

my corona

penultimatum

a dead cat bounce

a further fall

the fool’s authority ignored

and down we go

don’t breathe on me

this is what came from business as usual

a new name no one remembers yet

COVID

operation

calling all co-morbidities

unusual creatures caged up together

piled until a new disease

how wet is your market today?

down and down

sneeze and spray

and borne on wings above it

far

budgets, contingency

close the world down for this

a glory crowning spreads

as if around this star

and beery fever

burn everything they’ve touched

burn them

nothing to worry till rapture

in the presidential vice

fake truth

like fact for science

perhaps we’re fucked

still here’s little friend

smaller than seeing

big sickle

grim reap

endemic forever

wash hands until gone

stay in the bottle

and sleep