one dry potato

now we are laying some say lying here
moribund and fizzing
now we are itching also scratching
the difference which of the foot slash feet
entering the bunkarts of albania
stop it now ssh it all now
playing cricket in the afterlife

now we are having to rise at 0600 military
with alarum music set for 0607 good reasons
restith cometh you awake afresh its 1212
now you are wearing fat slippers
now you are depositing distracting pee some say piss

now you are noticing the reassuring whoosh of the traffic
but whabout the less assuring whoosh
whine of your own earholes and whither
ist my tinnitus appointment
the clack and squawk of late homecomers, residual
longing for the increasingly rare lonesome train whistle

now take a deep side turn bet if tony and georgia
met you all have a laugh like pub quiz bike ride
sit and moisturize the feet awhile
radio on radio off

entering the caves in devon chislehurst also
the chilly step down into bonespace

aerial geometry field
school rulebook cloud
within cells interlinked

now are we awake now are we drifting no
we cannot be drifting if

Don't @ me

the boy on the bike yells 'Specsavers!'
at me after I cross the road
in front of him (executing my
crossing with great efficiently
in order not to cause him to slow down)

the women in the booth raps
her nails on the glass three times
and beckons me to show my passport
as I started to walk past her window
as she was engrossed in her phone

constititute

         constititute

     constititute

  constititute

constititute

constititute

con

cons

const

consti

constit

constitit

constititu

constititut

constititute

constitituteconstitituteconstititute

etutititsnoc

etutititsno

etutititsn

etutitit

etutiti

etuti

etu

e

c

co

con

conss

consss

consst

consstit

consstiti

consstitit

consstititu

consstititut

consstititute

constititute

constititute

constititute

constititute

constititute

c o n s t i t i t u t e

con

sti

tit

itit

tititit

ttttt

ute

constitit—

constit—

const—

con—

c—

            c

         co

      cons

   consti

constitit

constititu

constititut

constititute

constititute

constititute

constititute

constititute

constititute

constititute

             constititute

         constitit

      consti

   cons

co

c

c

co

cons

consti

constitit

constititu

constititut

constititute

             ⟲

       constititute

    constititute

 constititute

constititute

constititute

constititute

constititute

constititute

constititute

The note on the desk read

'Max Payne interiors'
as if my sunlit doppelganger had the
faintest idea what is meant by that

My investigations reveal there is a Max Payne
third-person shooter which has
'one of the bleakest settings in gaming history'

Now I'm not a gamer but this gritty,
noir-inspired aesthetic, featuring dark, dilapidated,
and claustrophobic spaces which mirror the protagonist's
despair and the city's decay was
instantly recognisable to me

And yes the subway, the hotel, the drug den
with their sparse lighting, worn textures, and
often filthy environments are
the ideal locations for my own
gritty, revenge-driven storyline about
a man on the edge, fighting to clear his name
while struggling to uncover
the truth about his slain family - it all added up

You're in a computer game, Max.

The new Catweazle

I saw a wizard by the ancient River Effra
    (a former stream or small river in south London
     now culverted for most of its course)
while on a mission of my own
which involved... never you mind

Bearded, lanky and ancient (at least 50)
he sported a red cape, a golden crown
of cardboard and he possessed a staff
with which he commanded a plastic bottle
to levitate, assisted by much profanity
and a wild waving of every available limb

His Sunday conjuring attracted some
spectators crossing the Vauxhall Bridge
whose applause appeared to
disgust him, he needed the
approval of no one, NO ONE! 

Asbestos roof, rusting

The old rental and its weed garden
ever unmown and thistled but the worse
the worst was the garage door
with its marginally but reliably
expanding peephole paint peeling
we really should one day patch it up
but never did of course and so the flaking
spread the gap increased no car inside
just a collection of chipped and
unholy toilet seats not exactly
a vintage collection also
dangling visible through the gape
a mirrorball in the form of
an oversized basketball

Transitional, healing

You (affectionately) mock my admiration
for certain stylish bridges
from the whimsical to the brutalist 

Consider: The Bridge as a Symbol of Internal Integration

Riga, Latvia had a succession of beauties which
sent me into rhapsodies you found bewildering

Vientiane where I lost my mind on the giddy crossing
as you nearly lost your footing

Consider: the irrational third element resolving
an unconscious tension between opposing forces

Gazing along the Thames from certain vantage points
may be a minor healing process, a
grouping of history and memory

Consider: jumping off one - no
let us not be flippant, let us recall
connections we have made, and bridges
we have traversed 

From Salford to the Florida Keys
the accidental glories of my travels
from Newcastle to Nashville, groping
blindly in search of
the transcendent function