Words

10 short poems written today – Sunday May 3rd 2009

23.23
Hurtling towards the crash barrier fast
I was hoping we wouldn’t catch fire.
Aware of the driver’s mile-wide stare
I was hoping we wouldn’t catch fire.
Going so fast but in slow motion
I was hoping we wouldn’t catch fire.
Seeing the other car rotate into our path
I was hoping we wouldn’t catch fire.
Hearing the car scrape like a low pitched wave
I was hoping we wouldn’t catch fire.
Smothered by the lateral airbag skirt
I was hoping we wouldn’t catch fire.
Smelling the disintegrating tyre
I was hoping we wouldn’t catch fire.
Feeling the armrest dig into my thigh
I was hoping we wouldn’t catch fire.
Realising we’d stopped but I couldn’t get out
I was hoping we wouldn’t catch fire.

Seeing all the blue lights as I walked from the wreck
Just a bruise on my leg and a scratch on my neck
As I shook on the grass I had time to reflect
I was hoping we wouldn’t catch fire.

19.54
Imagining you
1200 miles away
Beneath the mountain
Under Gourdon
Carving out a life without me
Seated at your golden table
Your hair still wet
Relaxing in style
Adorned in blacks and jewelry

Ma Copine
Smoking a little too much
Listening to the world
Languishing in two languages
Rearranging the cushions as a single bed
Turning the dimmers down
Washing your pink crystal glass
One last cigarette?

19.05
Wave.

Go on …. Wave.

Why?

Because it’s friendly.

No. I won’t wave.

Do it then, because I said so.

Because you said so?

Yes..

Who are you to tell me what to do?

I’m your better nature. Make that little child happy.

How long have I had a better nature?

4 years. 4 months and 6 days.

Since I was fifty?

Yep.

(It’s time to redress the karma)

18.37
The darkest cloud that I can see
Beneath the canvass canopy
A square of freedom and largesse
Above the red Shanghai Express

The smokers haunt beyond the glass
Oblivious to humankind
So windswept and obstreperous
A way beyond their tenderness

Moroccan music serenades
As angry families disappear
The square is gleaming full of light
I know just why I’m eating here

So now I move a table right
To benefit from soothing rays
Reflections in a firelight
Precursor to much better times.

16.16
Swine flu
Swine flu
All you little children
God is drugs
God is drugs
Don’t you worry
Get a vaccination
In the butt
In your blood

If you don’t die you’ll disappoint the tabloids
No bad news
No bad news
Just another overnight sensation
From above
God is love.

13.47
Don’t understand
The lack of cars
The emptiness
The bypass bare
The helping hand
The smell of flowers
The lunchtime bliss
The lack of fear
This calming man
This lack of bars
This treasure chest
This passing cheer
This steady hand
This beating heart
Can someone get me
Out of here?
12.05

The knives are out for Gordon Brown
It serves him bloody right
Exploiting economic growth
With policies of shite
There are bikers in the cabinet
And Balls in education
Let’s execute a bloody coup
And liberate the nation.

11.11

Totally detestable
just passing time of day
“Bit cold out here for breakfast innit?”
Fourteen feet away
Ignorant and middle-aged
Is demonstrating arbre rage
“It’s dropping dodgy dark brown leaves and bird shit on my Mercedes.”

“What harm’s it ever done to you?
Last summer it was beautiful
And Grandad really loved it too
When he was still around.”

“That council bloke gets on my nerves – A sanctuary for local birds
I’ll see that bugger eat his words. I’m going to saw it down.”

00.03
After the party ‘pussy whipped’ in urbane sprawl
American she-idol pedals her wares in gutter breath
Fruitless climbing the dog-eared steps to the cocktail bar
Only the empty drunken dregs and the smell of puke

See all the cavemen looking for fanny and greasy fries
Poor teenage girls 15 minutes of fame like the butterflies
Heels get turned over and broken and beauty evaporates
Hen parties end on their knees in piss-ridden alleyways.