not a verse to many

 

well well well

 

they were treated badly^* what

d’you expect from human kind

turn the other cheek no fear

kissing their arse

 

promised landscape take your pick

Armageddon’s puckered lips

strut the catwalk end the world

scapegoat or bust

 

read The Jewish War again

only this time add The Bomb

Dr Strangelove hand in glove

strangling himself

 

time will tell predictions please

on a postcard winner gets

courtesy of Musk a one

way trip to Mars

 

*by-the-bye for badly read

hell on Earth survivors vowed

not to let the empire strike

back on their word

 

 

eh aye rant

 

when the best we’ll ever manage or achieve

can be duplicated then improved by bots

what’s the point of trying shouldn’t people just

give up & sit back

 

shoot the breeze enjoy the view cos what’s the point

been a while since chess for instance ceased to be

dangerous & soon enough a racing car

will drive you to work

 

where the human aspect making money or

getting on shall disappear replaced by what

petty rivalries we’ll all be middle folk

man watched by a clock

 

going into care before our time we sip

lullabies composed in Aeolian mode

mood adjustments made according to the Moon

solar wind or spots

 

yep the music of the spheres is all we’ll hear

drowning out the guns & bombs of mutineers

even those controlled by exoskeletal

forces out of Mars

 

 

iso tropes

 

there’s an eider down

shotgun pellets blood

stains across the bed

last of the few

 

people went to town

traipsing village mud

paved with gold they said

turn of the screw

 

former farmer Brown

navigates the flood

on an upturned shed

animal glue

 

soldier sailor clown

rich man poor man judge

get it in the head

elephants flew

 

well you gotta frown

summat had to budge

giz a crust of bread

shock of the new

 

 

impertinence

 

bodies grow

smarter with

heads

planets get

stuffed without

moons

galaxies

orbit black

holes

universe

says define

goals

verse begins

splutters then

folds

 

 

frog warning

 

safe to stay at home & wait

where the monsters daren’t

go afraid of prowling kids

 

as you know the worst

danger faced by outside foes

trust the family

 

Emily & Uncle Joe

cut a catflap some

slack & give a dog a home

 

long as hump-back toads

don’t get in so mind the cracks

under which they’ll slide

 

reeking of their foreign ways

curse the Normans hand

back the Channel Îles for snide

 

 

not too great now

 

us & them the sworn

enemies of time’s

immemorial

biblical tropes

 

quote unquote the words

coined from melted down

altar plates they’re past

settlement day

 

eager for revenge

both opponents call

in Jehova’s names

hostage to what

 

fear or fortune not

love & peace but zoom

sanctimonious

meaningless guff

 

talking children maimed

babies snuffed & old

folk distraught at what

life was about

 

 

Dr Davos I presume

 

retrograde

conference

handouts

from

twenty-first

century

blood feuds

to

stay-at-home

refugee

food banks

in

climate change

turnaround

Bond films

with

cowboy Jane

hostage swop

shootouts

 

 

a verse to poetry

 

what’s the point of no return

one-way streets or cul-de-sacs

spread a map across the floor

see where it’s at

 

as you know the grid is down

St Domingo Rd & flood

waters won’t recede until

Christ knows the thing

 

is don’t put your act of faith

where the other fella’s been

lamppost wine for instance smells

great to a dog

 

keep your powder dry & wait

till the bogeyperson’s bogged

off or on their morning break

Jekel & Hyde

 

& another thing yer man

wrote a long ekphrastic pome

while they were curating stick

that up your nose

No Fear!