#236 - say monster

 

                                        

25.viii.20

236

say monster

 

when we speak ourselves

warn against the fists

call claws

 

mean animal out of the book then

made up in the mirror, the dream

in drag

in fits of trick  

 

with overlapping flapping ears

and hear all you won’t say

 

come jaws

we warn against ourselves with

creatures all pile in and on

 

see how skin and scales, limp wings

(tend this way with time we do)

 

all instinct with

trouble tricky

how else thus far

 

it is a scare and wizard thing

make all of it a rite of passage

rainbow slung warrior maiden

 

each monster will its chorus wept

 

mascara too much

and tail for crudely longing

 

always daring it up

dial monster

triple AVO

drink this

 

a monster in the porridge

am I so hard to tell?

 

woods at the mercy

and eat you up

those monsters will

 

examine the droppings

pay haruspex

 

this is all joy until 

single handedly

 

crool forchin’s got me snouted jist a treat

            – Dennis (a sentimental rearrangement)

 

we were far from a story

nothing you’d note

 

but one was all obedience, prone

this was at a stretch

 

when less in luck to guess

held for and fast

make a fist like this

 

there are yesterdays in

(as for the song)

chase them

but they mock my way

knowing it’s best not to know

 

a flicker and flit

 

soup conjurings like the book not yet

deserving to be

 

as if I were concealing a self

told away in traces

 

I think the ancestors live there

each to a secret

script smaller and smaller

 

only imagine where we are touched

 

I think to build a day from the trappings

aloud and in good light

 

the old dream unremembered

come to our senses here

 

think of the other lives lived where

you only see the arrows after

 

and truth

its sleep

was a warm between legs

a comfort hard thing

hearts soften

you could hold it

in your hand

 

rattling time

and the grim boat

tricking us on 

#235 - upon reflection

 

24.viii.20

235

upon reflection

 

in me the treetops

come again

the giving ink all lit

 

mostly below notice though

least of creatures given to glimpse

a topple twirl and caught

 

this is the purposelessness

heaven height in deeps

of leaf spun

 

to know the infinite is not

but breath days fade in

run the words away

 

as through this orchestra

baton breeze suggests

first silence of the shone world

 

in the after wind

see only and ever

what’s there

 

 

cosy nook

 

dark stumble

twin sisters in a bar

clue by glee go

identical or telling

 

there was the wishing to be in

so insect in the undertrail

 

for patience still

come to the point of not knowing where

 

you with me then

I won’t ask who

 

night – how many turns?

count the worlds come gone

 

by labyrinth string back

crumbs all

 

death of the wind as well

 

I believe we spoke of a dangerous squeeze

bottom of the stairs that way

 

I left some moonshone stones

 

everywhere everyone

many make mansion

 

I was after the quick brown fox

made me lazy dog

 

pick a bone

any bone

 

no webs grow on the vine of them

or settle dust to tell

 

it’s here’s the idea of out-of-time

and of time’s travels as well

 

house and houses

spread from hunch and almost

 

such palaces to pay no mind

 

at intervals where remembering

no one grows old

none weary

 

error to think the other worlds one

 

go where they go, am gone

#234 - I make an archive of myself

 

23.viii.20

234

I make an archive of myself  

rough, scratchy, splinters

 

an edge of the wind to touch

mind elsewhere

 

this room never opened

toys not put away

 

I file myself under the pile  

call it sleep

 

an homage for the Tams of Tim

 

out of the tall day

black cockies come

 

travelled in these mysteries

and make a guess of when

 

will we bring them back to words?

 

remember showing script as it comes

and call a spitting sky

 

keep some gusts of self, fan fire

 

in such efforts, understand

remember

 

flowers pressed upon the heart

box of wishes fallen in

a curiosities cabinet

 

everything practice

all for the record

let them in particular die

(most genocides before the word)

but witness now

 

some breezes shot in there

 

go back to the notes

for a land we have lost

so sleight the paper to

 

lost in all the phrases were

days they were delivered

 

think it all in a box

and you drum on

 

random and stray

call this blizzard width

so white

keep a box of tissues blown

install a heavier door

 

when weary of the tricks

o rhetor

 

a rise in fall in moments of

the forest on the chest

 

I make a spectacle

sun to burn

 

only one world

only one life

only this once

here now

 

say ‘monster’

and we speak of ourselves

 

each to our moment

give me the kingdom call

 

up in the gods

 

lost at the conference

in my own writing

 

nights between

choosing a room

 

keyless and gone

wander off topic

 

watching the play

and needing to go

 

what was performed?

did I distract?

 

tiptoe, corridor creep

we were up in the gods

 

surely nobody saw me

pure thought of first

 

and afterdim

cosy to quiet

 

a ghost crept in

and on so with

 

wake to the forest

tall of limb

 

bent to

a furious thrashing

                        

#233 - reasons to vote for Trump in 2020

22.viii.20

233

reasons to vote for Donald Trump in 2020

for the Cretan Liar series

 

climate change is not real

and if it is it doesn’t matter

everyone likes to be warm

 

black lives don’t matter

women like having their pussies grabbed

might not admit it but of course they do

 

these are not in any particular order

China bad Russia good

Chinese flu Chinese flu Chinese flu

Putin my good friend Kim’s a great guy

New Zealand is having a terrible second wave

it’s completely out of control there

watch my lips what hair

 

these are only the easy reasons

we’re doing better than anyone

fake news fake news is everywhere

lovely wall

all terrorists down there

 

because the world is watching

and we give the world a show

 

play golf – it’ll go away

 

he’ll come after you if you don’t

 

because he’s in charge of nuclear weapons

and has a big button to push

 

teacher said we couldn’t so we will

 

so many did last time

and many is most in its way

 

hate is one good reason

burn a few crosses for me

 

healthy is for the wealthy

(otherwise why do they rhyme?)

 

VOTE TRUMP 2020

it’s like a vision from the Bible so true

 

he’s done such a terrific job

never hear about a swamp any more

 

I am the only injustice in town

mean victim

 

greed defies gravity

look at the markets

 

back down there

dig and burn

 

there’s still an economy

some are still alive

America, do I detect a pulse? 

or are you just pleased to see me?

 

pumping it into the atmosphere

making a difference still

 

democracy, don’t make me laugh

 

he cannot lose and if he does

it’s only cause they cheated

stop the post

unmask and show yourself

who are the zombies now?

 

if not, he’ll surely go to gaol

for all the crimes he’s done

 

they’ll never build a penitentiary

big enough for what he’s done

the public purse won’t stand it

 

no one can count as far as he can

he’s very stable genius

and passed the geri-test

 

‘obedience’, pa says

and wears the cap to work

 

believe it or not

nothing they say about him is true

can’t be the end of the story

 

is it not simply to keep the darkness spreading?

because I love a lie  a good story

 

vote for him to give them the shits

don’t be politically correct

 

who else should our King Rat be?

 

he won’t go if he loses

so you must help him win

you’ll be preventing red revolution

 

he is after all Commander-in-Chief

and risk your life to go to the polls

 

a thrill to will

feel the power surge

 

trumps the others

best ever

a cheer

 

because America is great again

that’s the greatest thing ever of all 

irretrieve

 

wring it

 

losing all just as they come

no thread to hold or where begin

 

pub tiles, original as ever

now clean again

painting the old dairy

outside in team effort

 

I was all in these nothing joins

and with the effort still

 

in stables and straw

a colour catch

no slip

 

so many corners

not one world

could never be

 

reading to keep up

 

if only yet dog eared

would pencil again

the other place to these

 

you and you and you were there

 

can draw only mere from the edges

what if it meant once

 

cadences fall

touch the toothstone

wish

 

but no insisting

 

each to an other

invisibly threaded

 

wrung ears and of course

the sounding fire

it’s to the business gone

 

as if with this last tug

pull the house down

 

milking – it’s mind

for these last few drops

when it’s first light’s most precious to me

 

day away with it all

some things and ones come back  

 

now in the light

making the dream as I go

                   

#232 - in the garden of where I am

 

21.viii.20

232

in the garden of where I am

 

only a dream to the other world

 

a slap up weed high undersky

paint over shone so

diamonds of the after shower

great glow

and we’re home

 

where in the world will anyone

seas of now wash up?

 

I halved the hour

split the minute

 

in the garden of where I am

you too

 

many happy returns

a crash through piano

 

how friendlessly we guess to prayer

 

in this forest walk

till trees are more

 

nights too

stars of the fable still shine

 

ask – was I a force of nature (?)

 

often dance so no one will know

 

and are you paying attention?

 

the world’s too fast for bliss

 

multiple choice

 

once there were precious things

now nothing matters

 

very little of the world left

and still chip away

 

it was Spring there

whet the whistle

a night much woken to

 

not choosing

always all the above

 

festive and why

catching up

to and fro

 

I am the vessel of instance

I carry

for charity

pass, in conversation, by

 

thing called consciousness

far in the head, too far

 

some surfeit say

detritus

 

it’s in another world

I hear the fire take off

 

it’s an ear in the wind

and know all 

#231 - who am I?

 

20.viii.20

231

who am I?

(draft of tomorrow’s piece)

 

Man of Dust 

and sheltered life

all over the place

now home

can colour in

 

ME

 

this is all about

terrible things were done

are, will be

 

here’s dog licking its balls

cause you know why

 

indelicate, still ask

 

which part was where

when beat up, gaslit, simply vanished

 

let’s say this half that

all very gendered too

up personal, close

 

fist and the cringe

stand up for and

lay me down

in jackboots

 

shot on the banks

bastards took the shoes

 

so many givens

and all of this choosing

 

violence of was and still

the fucked up and the drug addled

 

never seen again

 

 

 

all of us scarred by fact

able as am

and ramp it up

struggling for reception

merest in mention

 

lock down

run out

ring fence

keep moving the borders

till the border’s gone

 

in fine fettle

sound of

 

and that’s me, now magnetized

glued to the only item

 

woven of skill, love, luck

dance over the keys

trip light

 

voices of the gone are mine

 

make poems out of misery

or other way around

 

and at a stretch (because I can)

 

mud in your eye as well

mind steps

 

I AM

15%, at least, any tree

99% chimpanzee

 

garden in pyjamas

semi-wog white-sliced

my father fought

 

one bung nostril

and where are the teeth?

 

I say remember

best shot we’ve got

 

who in the cannon? 

in the classics, where I’ll see you

who will write them too?

 

why WE

the also undreamt

and thus far now so WOKE

 

the more I consider the better I think

the round model suits, don’t you?

 

as if the globe itself

to whom we, so long irrelevant

and soon again

except I say

o

animals other than we are

 

come into these yellow sands

time perched a shoulder

mantled me

I was winged thing then

send me vicarious

happily various

 

imagine a peer-over heaven

all unknown the ancestors there

 

a painting of the clouds inside

no one knows what’s going on

 

but float like the signifier then

like the dickens

jouissance!

 

worlds taken for truth

here we are though asking again

under a brand new erasure

 

up the volume

others mutter

not just me mine

together it all

or empty gesture am

 

then

 

make the creature circle bigger

one tent

no ring to rule

 

am I merry-go-round or got off?

 

moments on my own to wonder

who am I (?)

dissolve in some society

 

I face the fairer world towards

 

call judgement on this head

 

and then a choral instance – self

 

I am a leaf through orchestra

and table at the dice

 

drift here mists

be many headed

brilliantly excuse

 

am I swoon a tune?

you tell me

 

make white sliced monument of me

and I’ll deface myself

erase and back to the dream

tall winded

a reason called exploits

 

back in the Days of Dim

when no love was lost

 

test proved allergic to life

own largely

 

I hardly have a capital letter

 

in the ever after ask me

precious to the chase

 

all such words buzz

flies

 

over the last legs

hear the cry

‘clear! clear!?’

now I know that was a question

 

love’s to contradict

do dizzies in the sack

 

I am

you and we are

lovely

a riddle of course

 

only ever a draft

they’ve moved the feast again

vanished just as we’d impart

 

at my funeral already they’re playing

music I’ve never heard

 

5 to 7

 

from nowhere first is where having

that was 5 am

 

write down what I will forget

 

we are both joining up

not sure why

but then this is because dad did

wondering what to take

nothing at first and then upstairs

just a tick

the i-pad else a novel is lost

all for want of some kind of kit

 

into of course the unknown

 

those stairs where you remember things

like a list of steps

or the shopping

and should I take grog

and a button up shirt

what’s allowed?

 

where does the cutlery go?

helping Donald Trump pack up the golf course

it’s getting dark

and they’re called deer baskets

he wants me to know it’s because

whole venison is roasted in each

he’s like a father

and someone else employed there

is leaning over the edge of the pool

to say aussie oi, are you ?

tell him I missed the Olympics in

but no longer listening

 

we’ve a long thinking time to order

izakaya

all they can hear is

okonomi please

second draft of 

'who am I?'

20.viii.20

231

who am I?

(draft of tomorrow’s piece)

 

Man of Dust  

and sheltered life

all over the place

now home

can colour in

 

ME

 

this is all about

terrible things were done

are, will be

 

here’s dog licking its balls

cause you know why

 

indelicate, still ask

 

which part was where

when beat up, gaslit, simply vanished

 

let’s say this half that

all very gendered too

up personal, close

 

fist and the cringe

stand up for and

lay me down

in jackboots

 

shot on the banks

bastards took the shoes

 

so many givens

and all of this choosing

 

was and still

able as am

and ramp it up

 

all of us scarred by fact

merest in mention

struggling for reception

 

lock down

run out

ring fence

keep moving the borders

till the border’s gone

 

in fine fettle

sound of

 

and that’s me, now magnetized

glued to the only item

 

woven of skill, love, luck

dance over the keys

trip light

 

voices of the gone are mine

 

make poems out of misery

or other way around

mind steps

 

and at a stretch (because I can)

 

mud in your eye as well

 

I AM

15%, at least, any tree

99% chimpanzee

 

garden in pyjamas

semi-wog white-sliced

my father fought

 

one bung nostril

and where are the teeth?

 

I say remember

best shot we’ve got

 

in the classics, where I’ll see you

who will write them now?

 

why WE

the also under-dreamt

and thus far now so WOKE

 

the more I consider the better I think

the round model suits, don’t you?

 

as if the globe itself

to whom we, so long irrelevant

and soon again

except I say

o

animals other than we are

 

come into these yellow sands

time perched a shoulder

mantled me

I was winged thing then

send me vicarious

happily various

 

imagine a peer-over heaven

all unknown the ancestors there

 

a painting of the clouds inside

no one knows what’s going on

 

but float like the dickens

jouissance!

 

worlds taken for truth

here we are though asking again

under a brand new erasure

 

up the volume

others mutter

not just me mine

together it all

or empty gesture am

 

then

 

make the creature circle bigger

one tent

no ring to rule

 

am I merry-go-round or got off?

 

moments on my own to wonder

who am I (?)

dissolve in some society

 

I face the fairer world towards

 

call judgement on this head

 

and then a choral instance – self

 

drift here mists

be many headed

brilliantly excuse

 

a leaf through orchestra

and table at the dice

 

am I swoon a tune?

you tell me

 

make white sliced monument of me

and I’ll deface myself

erase and back to the dream

tall winded

a reason called exploits

 

back in the Days of Dim

when no love was lost

still I, among the Tams of Tim

 

test proved allergic to life

own largely

 

I hardly have a capital letter

 

in the ever after ask me

precious to the chase

 

all such words buzz

flies

 

over the last legs

hear the cry

‘clear! clear!?’

now I know that was a question

 

love’s to contradict

do dizzies in the sack

 

I am

you and we are

lovely

a riddle of course

 

only ever a draft

they’ve moved the feast again

vanished just as we’d impart

 

at my funeral already they’re playing

music I’ve never heard