Clockwork Monkey

I cannot explain my existence    I never learned the sequence     mine was a comic wilderness   filled with oppressive beings     high on illusionary power   bought and paid for with my sweat and toil    I was so tired of being shoehorned into those awkward instances      I turned on to the dark    to get my business fixed   some use smooth words for ragged purpose    they beguile to deceive     and I was only too willing to be deceived

 I’d seen his face before    but we all have    he served me black wine     I drank it greedily     straight from the bottle     it filled me up     and I became a beast myself  my face is fluid now    it can take on many forms     and though I speak with the tongue of angels      my heart is dark and empty     I’ve been totally locked out     but he has the master key

all words are instrumental     that’s what he taught me    the real power resides in the space between the curses   invocations   and fragrant lies   that’s the space between naked intent and imagination    words are snares for the unwary   but weapons in the hands of lovers   he had words to raise the dead    and to bury the living     he made me his sounding brass    he wound me counter clockwise    and set me against myself     just another clockwork monkey     clamouring for the sun  

sharks

she spoke red     it’s a very old trick    but it gets your attention     like a loaded gun      but whatever she said    I paid  no mind     it didn’t mean nothing     she was  just having fun      I’m the same     when it gets down to it     and it gets down to it     often enough

you have to dig deep    if you’re gonna crash out    but you got to stay sharp    when you slip your collar   you must forge your papers    and murder the past   we were both killers     honed to perfection    too well matched    to do no harm

they tell me baby sharks    eat their siblings    I know people     who are worse than that    they think they are special    because they feel no fear    that’s completely reflexive     but it sets them apart      I’ve  been bitten more than once      but she bit deepest       she could still take a piece        whenever she wants

rubber knives

to whom it may concern    two can play at your game    don’t tread on my stones    I’m only setting my papers in order    because you murdered me   with innuendo     accusations     and bitter lies    call the waiter   there are vermin in my soup   

you tapped my wires     rifled my drawers   and embezzled my contents   just for the malice in it    you took my anguish and fashioned it into nails    then you pinioned me on charges     no-one had ever heard of    but don’t cry baby    you were only doing your job     and I was only doing mine

my bones are heavy    from your excuses    you saw an opportunity     the same size as your boots      so you weighed in    I might have done the same  myself      if I was a cunt    your new friends had hard junk faces    wrinkled dead like burst balloons     scary in their pit bull nightmares      full of toothless bite and spit    weeping from an excess of white lightning  

theirs is the zombie flesh rising    some say it tastes like chicken    but everybody knows it’s pork    I’d zap ‘em all straight in the fucking brain pan  rattle their sensitivities    the alky villains who stole my coat     looked just like you do     lonesome    confused      and in search of a decent fit