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
18 April 2020
Fleas
thought is the most courageous crime
but you must go beyond the static of the tribe
and their blandishments of mediocrity
you best conduct your business in ciphers
or they will know you ain’t from round here
because they don’t take to outsiders
they ain’t intimidated by reason
and they’re offended by science
they have a wizard to guide them
all facts are false and reality is negotiable
in his machiavellian flea circus
he says jump and they ask how high?
they do as they’re told
but they don’t know why
.
14 April 2020
Death Songs
I’m awake
I get your algebraic
you talk in tongues
a greasy word salad
of butchered truths
and fantastic remedies
that signify your filth
and lack of imagination
just another outrigger
of the one big lie
you are totally artificial
and your computations
always add up to zero
we were all witnesses
to your empty promise
that we’d stand together
when game got rough
but where were you
when we were singing
our death songs?
13 April 2020
Trojan Horses
the origins of chaos
lay far beyond the stars
and issue wicked messengers
who ride on trojan horses
as minions of the beast
to visit hell upon us
and render us as meat
these forces of entropy
amplify our fears
and wash our orphan faces
with soft and bitter tears
11 April 2020
Pariah
daily bulletins
solemn in tone
spoon fed the public
in their private cells
they spoke of unity
and pulling together
they were organising
punishment squads
for the less enthusiastic
that’s how it begins
with a consensus
forged in fear
in a crueller world
we indulge in the
animal satisfaction
of stolen meat
and take succour
in bitter news
from next door
I’m getting shady looks
from the boys in blue
they know a viral load
when they see one
I always kept to myself
I guess I deviated
from the herd immune
I’m a marked man
at risk and alone