1 August 2020
Chocolate George (Unwrapped)
Spartacus
I judiciously carved the bad
news into reasonable chunks that were easy to
swallow if hard to digest there was the momentum of some terrible gravity behind my every word each was weighed and then
dispensed on tablets of stone saying
if you strike the first blow I shall surely strike the last
it was a diabolical pact but I just couldn’t see for the blood in my eyes had so blinded me I was manky I had been less than diligent with my applications you might call me lazy but I was tired of the front and so I dropped my guard the signature of a chump
I took the blows due me and maybe more besides
but there’s always a final straw
an injury that cannot be
borne often it’s a concealed blade nestled in the hand of a friend I’d be a hypocrite to complain my dabs were all over that instrument and the blood on my hands was not my own
the secrets stashed in my
head the occult pleasures of my heart the treasures I have plundered then passed off as my own mark me out as a singular failure the simulation of a man in the solitude of my cell I pray to my pig god that no-one sees my true face or the bloody hands that betray my guilty secrets and my empty aspirations
in my lonely hours and
minutes I fashioned myself a nifty club from the jaw bone of some arsehole it’s useful for beating my head with I hear the talk I know an ambush when I smell it special preparations whispers glances knives are being sharpened plots are hatching and slithering home the devil’s arithmetic comes up snake eyes
for Johnny
if they knew what fragile
cargo I was carrying
they might have cut me some slack I won’t go into the inventory
of misdemeanours I’ll
cut to the capital crimes I murdered the days that led
to the now
I squandered my time on cheap thrills
and pricey highs the flickering images sear the brain those were the days of sexual
mystique and bold enterprise the object of adoration
wields a powerful magic over the obsessed the grass was
always greener over the next horizon never satisfied with what I
had I’d
trade all I possessed for a pocket full of mumbled promises
my biological imperative was
strong I
couldn’t keep it in my pants my road was paved with dodgy intentions and fleshy
desires you have to stay ahead in that game the greedy always bite the hand that feeds it’s
expected of them it’s dog eat cat in those kennels
my heart has been bleached I’m slightly out of phase and still have blood in my
eyes but I’ll
survive I’m no tourist I’ve
been here before this
place is like any other the good or bad in it is no concern of
mine it’s
not like I curry influence I’m a
foreigner here some
would say I was an exile but
you need a home before you can be exiled
I just drift within my cranial roof
I have no time for crime for contradictions and contractions for passions spent and passions lent smothering every innocent pretence with
fearsome glamorous intentions each new lover helped
themselves to my pieces handling them like hot rocks and chewing them in their charnel mouths so to speak with the tongues of angels
my suicide warden garnished my chains with a single red rose inspected my arsehole
where morning had fled and kissed me once for luck my pothole eyes peered through a lysergic
purge and witnessed only the contents of my dingy abode which was crowded with the wearying trinkets of
monstrous dalliances licentious attacks and falsified intentions
these are the things I’ll remember
during those lonely repasts of xanax and hard liquor green tea and ground glass
I learned to sleep in shallow
latrines on egyptian cotton and busted bed springs gazing up at cracked ceiling mirrors where decades of hope dissolved like baby aspirin I’m an aged gigolo a smudged
entry in last year’s diary my sleazy charm and phony
smile always seemed like my last best defence but my life has grown cold from hustling for change and god knows I need change there’s
one more hit left in my locker I’m going to nail that number and then lay back to dream as gods do
31 July 2020
Anus Mundi (Redux)
17 July 2020
Muzzle Up
of all things now
and nothing later
wring out your covid sheets
lockdown your positive membranes
you're getting a raw deal
your kind always does
you're the proud citizen
of an idiot nation
you won't muzzle up
because you have rights
all lives matter you say
but some more than others
it's always been that way
13 June 2020
Babylonians
22 May 2020
The Great Grimaldi
heavy weighs the crown
on your crooked brow
you’re master of inanities
and king of all the clowns
but that sugar breath of yours
smells of shit to me
for you have shovelled moths
into your gaping maw
and you’re wearing kind of thin
tell me of that vision narcotic
you pass off as your own
it has the familiar flavour
of someone else’s gum
you got no metal in your veins
or I’d simply cut you down
but I’d be just as happy
if you no longer came around
.
21 May 2020
Mutton
bungalowed on every suburban street
and there are fleshy instructors
festering in every tenement close
I've seen uncle bluebeard
and his tribe of mutant terriers
cashing subs at the post office
they normalised incompetence
so that he could claim disability
the poison radiates outward
from the point of corruption
I picked mine up at school
because I was paying attention
all justice is arbitrary
and rope is for lynchings
there is comfort within the flock
but we must obey the dog
18 May 2020
Tremors
we felt tremors - but we ignored them
when cracks appeared we just filled them
with scrap metal and toxic waste
the world rattled as she screamed and tore
and we tried to ignore that too
but we all bunkered up for the bat flu
it seemed the world had turned on us
just as we had turned on each other
we fell in with dank villains and petty tyrants
and we pledged allegiances to avaricious gods
some of us tried to follow the way
so far as we were allowed
don’t get me started on the games people play
it’s hard to harmonise with nature
when you are a parasite and a killer
….
2 May 2020
Bleached
my bones ache
I’m infected
with ghosts
the kind that grind
a man to dust
this confinement
withers me
desiccated notes
and ancient rituals
crowd my nights
with recollection
I shield my eyes
from the righteous
dread vibrations
of straw witnesses
and trial by radiation
28 April 2020
Grease
the committee gave me
the full inquisition
but my numbers were good
so I got a pat on the back
and sent on my way
they couldn’t tell
I’d cooked the books
to an old family recipe
where the left hand don’t know
who the right hand is screwing
I’m not dishonest
I’m just being realistic
everybody does it
and only a fool would starve
when there’s gravy to be had
I’m not a greedy man
I don’t take enough
to get myself noticed
I simply skim the cream
on its way to the top
22 April 2020
Distant Suns
the light from distant suns
shines on when they are gone
but when our day is done
will our lights shine on?
shall the lights of men
ever be seen again?
or will others of our kind
say that we were blind?
20 April 2020
King Of The Clowns
steal me a blanket
and let me lay down
there’s no grace in heaven
none that I’ve found
twelve strange disciples
from holier ground
sold me some garbage
and an antique crown
I’m lord of this shithole
and king of the clowns