07083, 1988

Guys we're inviting everyone
we want them to know you're our special guests
and if we can't celebrate our English friends
what's the point of living
in this New Jersey shithole
or anything really, of course
most of them wont come cos we're too far
out

But they came, many of them came and
nine out of ten were dudes, guys but
whatever Let's play the Smiths that's what
you guys like right, we just want to
make you feel welcome 

QUARTERS // SLAMMERS

Martha was so kind to me
leant me a Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt
I never wanted to take off

Something and something

A mournful air
approaches down the car
a gentle harmonica refrain redolent
of Larry Adler (one
for the teenagers) here
he comes now; sparse of hair
lean and unhoused
occasional hopeful stops
with a  proffered cap (trad arr)
do you know Midnight Cowboy?

Next day different train
here comes another one
'Excuse me ladies and gentlemen... '
now I can't get over his height
and it doesn't seem right for
a young and on the face of it
athletic 6'5" guy to be begging
I must interrogate my prejudices

And here something something
about the times we live in

Wednesday Morning 1940

Twirly
say what
too early

What's that hum
a hovering, pitch drone
like one of those red 55s
louder now, peek
through nets - a heli
right o/s my window
at least 15% awake

pll bck, n tme fr vwls
fk thy wnt frm m

Suddenly wide awow
we're not walking hand in hand by the river any more
I promised to send you the picnic pictures
will there be a knock on the door
yes there's the knock on the door

Those kids the
garage kids who're
always squawking
now it's just jim jam
what does that-

The knocks on the door fade
the kids louder fainter yim yam

The fog recedes, I'm up to 40%
VITAM MORTIUS REDDO

Come on man
chant them down
babylon chase them
ancient ones away

Bandages we've known

 I couldn't say I wasn't warned

'I did warn you' she liked to say
with a caveat emptor shrug

Not to stand too close to the fire
least of all to dive headfirst
into the flames

But the time comes in a man's life
when he has a choice to make

Enjoy the fireworks at a safe distance
or douse himself in alcohol and
run around with a burning
rag yelling

'This is what I've been waiting for'

Cleanup Crew

Back in the old rat catching days
we'd pop their heads with our lead shots
send the robodogs out later
bonus payout for every thousand tails

Each busted melon a satisfying pop
each final squeal a delight
a giddy rush of gunfire and mayhem

Not all of us born to it
the dropout rate was high
but I never felt higher
than when the first signal was given

We'd sit around the oil barrels burning
sucking on the rations
faces a fetching blend
of sweat, smoke and juice

Never had much to say but
we knew in our hearts our team was on
the right side of history

Not your C13th destiny

With all this talk of blockades
and the barbican

And amid my spiritual
starvation

I nightnod to daydream
of a silent slink
through the postern gate

Where I'd evaporate
into another life

Take a chance
on the roll of any die

Good morning, my little ones

Jean-Paul Sartre
died or at least news of it
reached me while in the bath after
a weekend in Suffolk
visiting The Otter Trust and some relatives
near Bury St Edmunds
who weren't in.
It was the era of just popping in, just
passing by, incomp-
rehensible now

I was filthy, really
needed that bath. Back then we
took one a week whether we needed
them or not and I always
had the radio on

I had not read him then - still
haven't although I tried La
Nausée once - but knew him as a legendary
ref. slash fig. from my
random teenage reading

And was not yet aware that JP was
tormented by visions of crabs (and lobsters)
everywhere he went
after taking mescaline in 1935
which later inspired
elements of his philosophical writing and plays

They followed him down the street
they sat quietly by his desk
crustacean, hallucination

Until finally he willed them away
because they bored him