Summer eventually

There was a question about a poem
I'd never read before
which kept using the word
gentian, a word I'd never
heard but which had to be some
flower

My mind wasn't really
fully focused

Again and again with this
gentian; it quite began to grate
       but I couldn't let this affect
       my confused and sloppy answer

       Was gentian even with a hard
       or soft gee - gestapo or gentle

       Searching for the symbolism
       with burnt out torch light

If I hurried I could turn over
the paper walk to the bar and 
     be first in line for 
     the pint and pizza deal

                  What days
         not of blue darkness and despair

     Although there were some times
we fell down the stairs

Diminutive spirits

Warming up...
ask me for favors
asking for treats in the
(not) afterlife; here & now

Don't say Guten Tag (spooks em +
not actually German) plus
small gnomes are a tautology unto themself
Teeny kleiny Zwerge, Zwerginnen

Enter the Information Center
and ask the staff for the chest

I'm eligible but sturgligning
to list 31 sexual flavors, but

I remain in full Atlantic control, and
they've all had their shingles jab
ahead of the End Days Orgie

Q. for Mr Psychological Memory Man
aka old Billy Bottle
Who are the slut gnomes of false Berlin?
proscenium arch crumbles
the Information Center cannot hold

Cheaply constructed post-war architecture
dirty promiscuous leprechaunicals
bizarre little creatures to a men and women
Zwerge, Zwerginnen I think
it's over now, I hope it's
just beginning

And you
my pretty little elf
remain in full control
of the board

Shout out to rare body oils

"Please forgive me for stressing you with my predicaments

I am Mrs. Elizabeth Edward, 63 years,
from USA, and I am suffering from a long time cancer
and from all indication my condition is really bad
and deteriorating
as my doctors have confirmed and courageously

Advised me that I may not live beyond two months
from now for the reason that my tumor
has reached a critical stage which
has defiled all forms of medical treatment

As a matter of fact, registered nurse by profession
while my husband was dealing on Gold Dust and Gold Bars
till his sudden death, then I took over his business till date.

In fact, at this moment I and my late husband
have a deposit sum of ($5.000.000.00 US)
five million dollars with one of the leading bank.

But unfortunately
I cannot visit the bank
since I’m critically sick
and powerless
to do anything myself but my bank account officer advised me
to assign any of my trustworthy relative,
friends or partner with authorization letter
to stand as the recipient of i and my late husband
funds but sorrowfully I don’t have any reliable relative
and no child.

I want you to know there are no risk involved,
it is 100% hitch free & safe. If you will be interesting
to assist in getting this fund into your account
for charity project to fulfill my promise
before anything happens to me, please
let me know immediately. Therefore,
I want you to receive the money and take 50%
to take care of yourself and family while 50%
should be use basically on humanitarian purposes
mostly to orphanages home

Motherless babies home, less privileged
and disable citizens and widows around the world

And as soon as I receive your respond
I shall send you the full details with my pictures,
banking records and with full contacts of
my banking institution to communicate them on the transaction.

You can only get me through by my private email
As i wait for your urgent reply

Hope to hear from you soon
Best Regards
Mrs. Elizabeth Edward"

Poptimism

You're only a week away
from healing

EMDR, MDMA
Lawson's egg sandwich

Meet the magical shining one
on a moonlit path

Or schedule session
with succubus

DBT, RICE
go and see your friends down under

Steroids and sunlight
hydration electrolytes

Take baby steps
to the moon and back

You're only ever
a week away

07208, 1988

Jake was all 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

This is the life you like this life
Do you know the Queen I'm just kidding
Football soccer pavement sidewalk
You're gonna see your girl in DC

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
it or not and I always
had the radio on

I'd 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

Every Man, or Woman, for Himself

We finally
fell out
somewhere between Doncaster and Newcastle
spoiling a 25-year record of sweetness unparalleled,
scarce a cross word
but this fissure was both critical and fiery

The silent boiling and cross-eyed fuming nearly
caused a derailment
we both forgot what the cause was
what was the cause what
caused it it just didn't it just wasn't
I forget exactly what. But

The border had been crossed, and
I made one last foolhardy approach
at a humorous breaking of the
ice: "Ah say, Ah say noo,
we're in bonny Scotland
can ye not extend a haun of kindness noo"

But it acted like a punch to the gut
not even worthy of a withering look

My bad

As they say.

We pulled into Waverley, my
mind reeling, would we need to arrange
separate accommodations etc

And how would we negotiate the
Party Conference, as the
so-called golden couple

I grabbed my suitcase and saw there was a considerable
leap required from train to platform
talk about mind the gap this
was more like a standing
long jump, of which it happened I was
a gold medallist
(Devonian Games 2002) so my 
ability to spring forth, and to
bounce back
would once more be tested

Unbearable, London, Feet, 1996, Mining

Wasny much fun that summer all summer
with ffun and friends at last
kicking a foofbal-l-l-ohhhh Fußball foot
any time you made contact with b-b-ball
o-o-o-hhh owowowow now in your
[five years at least passed] prime
in misc London parks Hyde Holland Green also Clissold
where you saw Kieran the Intimidating
once known from **not now another time**

The thing was your feet spec. to drill
down your toes in part. yr big left TOE
was crossyeed under the hammer of misfortune NAIL

My mother was once also famously it's all
relative under suffrance of the ingrain nail
as I believed it called why are you even
bothering to correct me

'Ooh Lee I got an ingrain toenail' she'd say
while dragging on a Senior Service
'I got to go in hospitals for
three days like Sybil'
yeah also with a wheelchair
it's knot 1975 any more MOTHER

But when I graduated to fellow en-
grained suffrer state it was an afternoon
ride to East Finchley for a poke and scrape
Jamiroquai on the radio and
hopple back the to the station laddy (for free)
in green Converse never the best choice

Anaesthetised up to a reasonable point
I was reading K-Pax can't do that now
- Is K-Pax based on a true story?
- What did the ending of K-Pax mean?
I was listening to Beautiful Freak yeah
so what on my Walkman

Five stops later, sitting in the back room
with a name long since deleted from my memoir
who had a no nail-op patience policy
a stance a pos. I had to respect
it wasn't in the excuse me sympathy fuck zone

So with throbbing afoot beyond a reasonable point
we drank drank rank vodka#
till I forgot I even had legs##
or toes or a body###
OR EVEN YOU COME ON NOW ####

And now those days
+ MY FEET
are long gone

Defending the city against a horde of invading undead

You (don't) have to hate slash fear them
sabre rat zombie slash reapers
popping batlike to gobble radioactive trash
such silver edgelords they

think they're so special and maybe they are
sneaky creeps you need to eliminate
better do it fast before they get all

rapido flying and screeching
right up in your grill
with the spewing of poison
and the fury slashing 

while you try to reload
you stare into their serrated gut carriage
and the next thing you know

(not) PUNK ROCK SONG FOR (not) CRASS TO (not) SHOUT

ALL DAY LONG PISSING SO MUCH PISSING
ALWAYS PISSING SLASH SLASH SLASH
SOMTIMES SHITTING BUT MAINLY PISSIN
SPEND MY TIME DOING THIS THING CALLED
PISSING AWAY TIME PISSING JUTS
PISSING YOUR LIFE AWAY DUT DUT
PISSING YOUR LIFE AWAY DUT DUT
NOTHING CLEVER ABOUT IT JUST PISS
TILL THE GRAVE COMES THEN YOULL WISH ONE MORE
TIME TO GO PISSING YOUR LIFE AWAY DUT DUT
AT LEAST SOMETHING IN CMON WIX|THX
 
SHOUT ABOUT THE INDIGNITY CHRIST THE

PISSING INDIGNITY BUT PAUPERS AND KINGS ALIKE
LET IT OUT AT LEAST BE PROUD TO BE PART
OF THE PISS CLASS CROWD CMON EVEN YOU
CANT BE ABOVE PISSING LIKE SOME LORD KRISHNA
SUCH DELUSIONS ARE A BETRAYAL
OF YOUR FIZZ CLASS BASED BEING
BE PROUD OF YOUR ENDLESS PISSING

FROM YOUR PEASANT PEEHOLE
IF ITS UP AGAINST THE WALL OR IN THE BED 
DONT BE ASHAMED OF YOUR HUMAN NATURE
PISS LIKE A LADY OR
PISS LIKE A RACEHORSE
ADMITIT SUMBIT IT YOU BEEN NOTHING 
BUT A PISS MACHINE ALL YOURLIFE

Ascension Bridge

Languishing, heard an announcement for
new game show on Progressive TV
(cable channel 449)

Rearrange a lost song for three instruments
"in the style of" with all the usual
parameters applied and you may nominate one close contact

I chose the frockless Friar Rouse
low priest of the 16-volume aerophone
we had in mind the Yes song
Morning Capture don't
bother looking it up. Moraz era
modus Debussy, our research was
negligible bordering on the extensive

      Vivid orchestration
      Melodic brilliance
      Hints of exoticism

Lost the bidding war for the cheat music
lost the rights to the performing rotunda
this was an uphill struggle and we were
soon wriggling with crabs

Rouse 'Rabbie please' full of encourage
acquired a tempus root - perfectly legit -
and we were soon among the front runner
all we needed now was a sniff of the dust
and we'd be conveying, relaying

I'd been channelling the Voice
for decades, on the not even off chance
as the crabs were finally
brought under control

      Uniquely bold
      Spontaneous energy
      Strong - rapid - integrated

Few recall the spectacle of Rouse and me
yanking steam-fragmented sounds
from both past and future
skipping the here and now. Our title
was Ascension Bridge and victory was
of no consequence

You have drawn a girl

In 78,759 BCE, in the Nile Valley,
near present-day Cairo, a girl was born
whose name is lost to history.

Her band was about 30 people strong.
Her dwelling was a brush or grass windbreak.
She was the sixth of six children.
Her father died when she was 22,
her mother when she was 38.

She ate largely wild sedge tubers,
wild waterfowl, Nile catfish and tilapia,
and wild greens and reed shoots,
with wild figs in season.

She stood some 159 cm tall (5 ft 3 in).

Of the twelve children she had, four boys
and a girl survived past childhood. Her journeys
took her no farther than 6 days' walk,
to the far edge of the band's seasonal range.

She spoke an unrecorded prehistoric language
and followed animism and shamanism.
She spent her days as a gatherer of
wild plants and small game.

She lived 54 years, dying of
a respiratory infection.
Her line came to four grandchildren.

https://anyhumanever.com/

Eruption during the cleansing ceremony (1963)

Did you see
the vivid, prolonged twilight glows
    long-lasting deep, fiery
    red sunset colours

Did you see
    stratospheric dust stripes
    a volcanic aerosol haze and
the sunlit illuminated, visible
bands in the twilight arch

A brilliant arc of lavender, pink
    and fiery orange
rising from the west

And well into the night was
the light strong enough to cast
distinct shadows on the ground 

Did you notice how
    during the great catastrophe
the sky simply did not look right
Losing its crisp, deep blue appearance
turning more milky 
    chalky, some say turbid
    sometimes, a Bishop's Ring

An early indicator
   of the aerosol blanket
   which cooled the planet for a year

Do you remember
those months when
global winds spread a veil
around the world

Round, oval, square, heart

A fringe will help
  raucous laughter not but
a fringe will cover up
  a prosecco clock multitude
red no I want to say auburn

  Americans are wary
    maybe a parting will help
what if I'm on the telly
with my fringe will it
make me look
  with their bangs
younger or older
  they became the Bangles

I think a fringe could help
  but what if I'm 40? will
    what then how will it help
 call my stylist Jacques he
   can work wonders

Eight million spirits

And every one of them lol'd
or is it lolled at Hugo when he
took a tumble
when he went a over t
by the O-torii Gate
and ended up splashing down
into the muddy sand but

the best part was the crab
they absolutely peed
theyself at that
the old Yaoyorozu

with poor Hugo layed out soaked
and this raging crustacean nipping at
his nose now you're
embellishing if not out
right inventing, like the boy

wasn't a laughing stock
before he even got off
the boat

Losing the will to live

They said he had idlers disease
but chronic fatigue and
fatal weakness
was as real as the atomic bomb

He was genuinely ill and exhausted
    radiation sickness
he was treated with cold disdain
    derogatory treatment

Suffering from
invisible effects since the flash
that changed the world

Profound psychological
and physical distress

He would writhe in unbearable
agony; an endless, vicious cycle

Destruction of your family, your
work, your city followed
by discrimination and
rejection from your
own people

Every hospital sent him away
classified him as a mental patient

    one hundred scars

Lung warfare

Take a picture now zoom in
on those delicate scarlet blommers
filling a corner of the post-
event reception

Impossible spores calculated to infect
and occupy my specific lymphatics

Foreign agents, reagents
somehow they knew my latent
susceptibility
to the trumpet particulate

I was a man on a mission
arousing suspicion
I really did complete
the marathon but now I would struggle
to finish my sentence