Sunday, 1 December 2019

crocodile gas



black Friday


only cognoscenti know what square
windows did for the Comet but as
people on the street look up watch out
few are surprised

who has studied The War of the Worlds
hardly Bible class whereas the film
starring what’s-his-name was not a flop
but it’s blasé

folk just go about their daily lives
no one gives a monkey's any more
seen it all a million times before
bingeing in bed

here's a deal to take the edges off
tablets will be round to match your eyes
gravity keep your feet on the ground
sounds will surround

this for just a tenner on the nose
no subscriptions extra charges one
payment buys a lifetime's guaranteed
re-al-i-ty




II

jurassic talk


razor wire circumcises piles
fifteen storeys high & built to rock
on through earthquakes while their neighbours take
pot bloody luck

dinosaurs were just as proud their lines
stretched a hundred million years before
jabbering with homeys down the banks
stars hit the floor

most of them were buried where they fell
few indeed that scurried off or flew
those that did bore with them all that time
like a capsule

precious dna containing what
conversations eh a Socrates
here a Gloria Stein there who knows
how many wise

pterodactyls took their poetry
seriously or how much the good
old inhabitants of Earth we've plain
misunderstood




III


quick nit fix

stand aside Doctors a surgeon called
Stanley of the Hozzy takes the floor
powdered glass has been ingested fetch
hot water towels

give the bugger room to struggle fools
can't you see when a suicide's been
staged & what’s the pong in here I know
fee fi fo fum

something's been smelling an English man
clear the operating theatre
brought your scalpel Watson hold my cape
opera gloves top

hat & tails haven’t seen the like since
Series Two & quick about it or
else the boys from Scottie Rd will come
skulking indoors

actually the patient's healed himself
put the kettle on I say Nurse Peel
marry me tomorrow would you eh
open & shut




IV

crocodile gas


sleepless nights I've lain & wondered how
Kerouac my hero aged sixteen
in his cups would bang the door & scream
QSTB

QUIT is dubious I don’t recall
words so much as sentiments but stop
isn't friendly advice or mean leave off
QSTB

SCREWING nails the coffin down for sex
done by men to women read this text
photographs are screwed against a wall
QSTB

THE means nothing as in nameless bod
Marilyn's for example whose real
name was Norma losing her I-D
QSTB

BLONDE is beautiful but dumb & how
jealous man who lives with Mum admits
tit head bum those legs would break his neck
QSTB




V

coward's way


that Kashoggi moment when you think
go indoors or stay out on the street
stick yr bonce right in the lion's mouth
see what it’s like

get the heck off & run for yr life
find some hole to crawl in batten down
seven kinds of hatches be no good
they is abroad

keep yr mouth tight shut is what I say
if it kills me makes no sense to write
up the truth the truth ain't worth a dime
better to lie

hell no worse than penning jingle bells
wheels come off the batmobile all right
quiet as a mouse the giant's hall
echoes that much

tip toe down the beanstalk hand in hand
Cinderella's ashes to return
sorry folks I'm leaving on the train
red light turns blue



VI

saved

crusties had us fight for their beliefs
saints in baggy keks & grizzly beards
now we’re dead they'll claim we've gone to hell
heaven as well

can't you tell it isn't very clear
where we are our voices echoing
ear to ear in silent stabs of fear
Mother we call

memory plays tricks on her with us
but by phone telemetry remains
true to sound & vision even when
life is erased

still our numbers circulate because
normal service is resumed in time
lives recycled innit what a peach
science be praised

signing off for now press hash to save
everyone remembers everything
nothing's lost the cloud retains it all
see us again



VII

out of this world

on the hole I see things differently
through the blackest space a prick of stars
silhouettes my hands & feet the suit
keeps nothing out

while I'm working whistle Rocket Man
Major Tom or Fly Me To The Moon
when the sun turns up again I sing
Here Comes The Sun

mooch my merry way around the globe
booties dangling over mother Earth
fairground ride to beat all ragtime band
gathering eggs

fire dragons lay in mushroom clouds
not just an everyday planet must
have some overlap of blue & white
struggling with life

fill my basket then move on the net
widens in & out the ozone weaves
patterns no one understands bar me
perched on the hole

Not laughs & tears.

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