bourgeois heroes

the swill of propaganda     and the opiate of aspiration   are pumped out 24/7     in the age of sexualisation     fetishized  commodities     and prostituted love     

the name of the game is power      and all power stems from oppression        our courageous captains of industry      spread the ideology of cancer      in a torrent of greed and lust     

way up on mount olympus       cadres of billionaire demigods       are forging tickets to heaven      from second-hand clichés    and promissory notes     we’re left counting pennies      while they organise a society     where hideous pagan idols     are feasting on our blood

bluebottles

I was my natural self     being in a particular groove    when I was accosted by bluebottles     they was low types     full of guile and craft    and tried to locate my stash     by rifling my pockets     they were due a disappointment   coz I’d already imbibed      and was well off my rocker    yeah   herb means life, or so jah say     everybody’s doing it nowadays      I was indignant and stood on my rights      they got suss      and fled through the night      but the war on drugs is never over      we’re bound to meet again      on another sorry day

easter sunday

 let’s drink to resurrection      and poor boys coming home      to triumph over life and death     the second time around     you’ll believe what you want to       there ain’t no sin in that     but words are what men live by      and words were meant to count       some things linger on      in the universal mind      they’re neither fact nor fiction      but something in-between    jesus was a poet      and he’s alright by me        

outside women

another outside woman     is borrowing my clothes        she’s got my name and number       that’s about all she knows         she doesn’t bother to feed me      and I don’t really care       coz we’re only buying time       while her man’s not there       it’s become the well-worn ritual       we don’t talk that much       we keep it nice and simple     and communicate by touch      it’s a temporary arrangement      we can always walk away     but she likes to keep me stashed nearby    for a rainy day

problems

 I’m no slave to silence      I have the words     but I don’t use them all      you said I had a great face    the kind that’s been lived in        well it is      lived in  that is    died in too     but that’s another story       you said I was gifted      but that’s just a lie     I’m experienced      that’s what you bought      no social experiment     you bought a man      a man of flesh and blood     I fought the law     but I never did no time    they caged me in a hospital     they said I’d lost my mind       but minds are ten a penny     they’re not so hard to find     I’ve had problems      we’ve all had problems      but I used my imagination     to finally cut loose     what on earth did you do    when hard times came around?

good friday

was that love?     was it ever love?     transmitted from a distance      cloaked in the mysterious     it was a far greater thing…      and all that signifies    to sacrifice yourself     and the love the act implies    I said I’d give my life for you       but that was not enough    I had to forsake my family    and purchase your affections       with promissory notes…

pyrite

don’t mind me    I’m just a basic guy     with extravagant needs     but a man’s got to live      as he sees fit     there’s no secret ambition     burning holes in my pockets     I’ve got natural medicine      to spell me some cheer       they say it’s a weakness       but I don’t really care      some diversions are sacred       like words from the bible     so don’t shoot me down       until you hear what the deal is      your complete satisfaction     could be moments away

heavy arithmetic

it’s a heavy arithmetic       that measures out the hours     and subtracts the days      time spent more in hope than reason        our rusted factory eyes lack lustre     they’re fixed on horizons far away       where our dreams now live in exile      and yesterday’s tomorrows accumulate decay       is it true what I heard you say?       you made a binding promise       that you would wait forever     forever and a day

lizards

another billionaire turned out to be a lizard     but it didn’t really matter     he’s chairman of the board     coz money is good    when you earn enough     to buy a small planet     he’ll buy your affections      and swing your elections      coz your aspirations      are shaped by his ambition

screwfaces

sometimes      often     I don’t want to go out      I don’t want to go out     mixing with them screwfaces      don’t get me wrong      I’ve worn faces      we’ve all worn faces     but you know faces     you can’t rely on faces     any more than words      they make you look       and you don’t want to look      but they make you look     and then you see      that faces conceal      and faces mislead      no, you can’t trust the faces      in this neighbourhood  

weirdo

 I’m a rocket    totally psychiatric    but I’m authentic     a genuine individual      I count it a privilege      to play the local freak     it’s not like I really care    coz I was never normal        but sometimes I’ve been free      I can fly in the face of reason     that might sometimes seem eccentric       but I’ve been wired    rewired    and strung out on the limbs of some unfamiliar trees     it suits me that I’m a weirdo     I don’t care what anyone says      I’ve never worn the shackles of social conformity

liquid energy

she said I had potential      in the form of liquid energy      the kind that runs right over      to saturate the page      in a red hot flush of synergy      she loved the cut       of my druggy cliché mystery       and though that stuff is history       she said it all so sexily      that I didn’t really mind        and we made love      in the shadow of the gallows       on a bed of poisoned arrows     they say that lust is blind      of that there is no doubt      she poured my head       into a bowl of wild piranha        she peeled back my banana       smiled once for the camera        and snuffed my candle out