And lacking an aircraft, I draw the courage
to breathe underwater. Send helpless
air bubble messages
fizzing to the surface
Where they fail to catch the dewdrop
and do nothing to aid
the reflection of the cosmos
Better to become
an eel or a snake, afloat absurd
and redundant.
cf. Roberto Bolaño & Harry Martinson
Saved her before I saw her I saved her from some rough boys on the street corner of Wardour and Meard, joyous to chance Kissed her on the cheek unasked noticing of her thick chestnut hair so unlike the straggly & prematurely silver-tinged wig of 91
‘Come with me, I’ll take you a place I know’
playing the Soho sophisticate
*** The Ejector Seat Reservation Lounge ***
it had a seat on top of a 30-foot hydraulic pole
operating as an entrance stroke exit
Karin looked apprehensive
‘Go ahead, it’s quite safe’ I encouraged her
She climbed in and asked me what happened next I didn’t know and panicked
‘It must be broken, there’s another entrance’ I said blushing
& took her down the dirty subway beneath Rupert swallowing my discomfort
I’d never actually been down to *** The Ejector Seat Reservation Lounge *** before - didn’t know what to do
or what buttons to press
Down the p-sub we were silent until
‘Look at these marvellous app-ree-kots’ she said
pointing to a cardboard carpet featuring fruits
fashioned from gemstones
‘App-ree-kots’ I replied seizing on a weak spot, ‘What are app-ree-kots’
she turned her head & muttered some German obscenity
the toothless shaggy pressed one into her hand
‘Only a fiver mate’ directed at the gentleman
who caught sniff of a jelly baby detergent rising
and handed over a reluctant note, dreading
The hours ahead with a rusty nail and a feeble sense of gravy
In the stillness of night, headphones embrace
You lie in your bed, lost in your space
Building scenarios, a world of your own
Replaying old moments, where seeds were grown
Conversations linger, words left unsaid
A theatre of thought, where fantasies tread
Imagining love - dancing like pure light
In a realm of your making, and demons take flight
Psychologists mutter of daydreams askew
Maladaptive escapes where the mind wanders through
Vividly painted in colours so bright
A refuge from worries, a fortress of light
The brain's network hums, default mode's call
Imagination ignites - soft soothing thrall
Dopamine flows with each triumph you weave
Yet victories fade, like the dusk as you grieve
For roots run deep, where childhood once played
In loneliness grip, in neglect's cruel shade
When the world felt unsafe, yet you crafted a way
To seize a small haven, where you kept fears at bay
Not laziness no, but a dance of the mind,
Your nervous system seeks solace, entwined
But beware of the lure, when escape feels so sweet
For the thrill of the dream pulls you from the street
So tread with care, in a land of your making
Where imagination breathes, and reality's shaking
Life's waiting out there, beyond dreams' gentle hold
In the warmth of the present, let your story unfold
A lot of people
become spies
accidentally.
Throwing huge parties
for tech workers.
"How do you afford this?"
Patrons from all over the world
want to keep up.
Access to information
is what it looks like.
They seemed totally oblivious.
Just really good event planners.
I sat there
completely stupefied;
they didn't realize
the actual reason 'they'
paid them to hang out
with the drunk founders.
To clarify -
Trolley nerd bigwigs
afforded all this.
Picking locks in the
event planning world.
Totally oblivious
at least part-time.
"Who are the patrons?"
Certain rich people +
sneaky guy in a suit who
held the huge wingdings
when eventually some
minions turned spies.
A lot of
information -
years ago -
accidental -
logistics -
stupefied.
It takes six inches of water
to knock someone off their feet
There was rain in the forecast
it sprinkled, and then it started
coming down heavy
[Thunder rumbles]
We got word from the ranger....
within moments I was drenched
head to toe
It starts to feel more
and more serious
Is this the danger?
We watched the water
rise and rise
the hair on the back of your neck
Then the water burst over the bank
all right, this is intense
By then, the river
had divided everybody and
the pathway is entirely engulfed
It went from one of the prettiest things
I've ever seen to this just
reddish-brown disgusting mud
Then we are not a family, and you are
not the greatest dancer
some clarity is appreciated
amid the evolutionary mismatch
You dive down, deeper
you climb up, higher &
godspeed the immanent unravelling
Keep snip snipping the loose
ends lest they stray out of your leg
pockets then tumbling, heels
over headache by dérèglement
Keep the back four in line, rogue
strands, limbs and wires will not
be tolerated even if by smashing
it all into random shards
A once in a century reconstructed, recon-
stituted reconnaissance ghost
is born aus der Asche
You're so familiar
I don't even know why
I acknowledge you
give you the time of day
You keep hanging round here
like a dirty secret
a grubby stain
Fetid and fated
addressed to me and only me
In this way
it makes me feel so special
makes me feel so chosen
Deserving of this blessing
and a curse
But the trick
as always known
is to wriggle out from over or under
slashing wildly
and huffing furiously
With peak inelegance
also discarding pajamas
at the bottom of the pool
A rejection of destiny
a denial of the filthy path
Every day
you awake
you must choose again
God it gets so tiring
and God it leads to such exhaustion
We begin to fall back down the muddy slope
then it all comes round again
