West Kirby Marina

Waiting for the webcam to refresh while

the world and his wife walks upon

the water, my belly full of fish

and fingers frozen, an easter mission

200 miles from home, wrapped

couples hugging and dogdads fussing

After 30 circles and jabs of refreshment

there be proof - that’s me in the picture,

that blurry blue-black ghost by the rail

the homesick cur stray from the cave

can claim he was here, one more

smiley face for the record

as your hidden histories won’t recall

But the reward centre thwarted by that

awkward lurk and the interminable hover for

the all seeing eye to quarter yawn requires

an extended term of queasy peninsular roll

Fellow travellers

After days rambling, footloose

rootless, return to the flock

& in a station line a lunk bleats

Get me a cappuccino Verity

No chocolate... Verity! Don't want chocolate.

Behind him a nasty piece of work mutters

You'll get what you're given

and fucking like it

Later seated, snoozing and

sprawling, at literal Crewe a huffy arrival

plonks his backpack in the vacancy,

rummages interminably while reeking of

barbecue bites and wet dog

While the same nasty piece, already

beaten back into submission

Croaks an inaudible

ineffective oath

Asking for a friend

Is it possible to sleep so long you die?

can we take a week off work for heartbreak?

how do you function without coffee?

where can I buy a new face & body?

Is it bad to put magic in your ass?

does anyone actually know what they are doing in life?

is it ok to cry during a wrestling match?

how many days until a dead body starts to stink?

Does a cat know when you're masturbating?

does it feel good to stab someone?

is it possible for something to only be slightly mangled?

and is the world ending?

Do seahorses taste like shrimp?

at what point do you stop looking like a jacket potato?

does anyone know any good cults to join?

where tf are y'all finding true love?

Footprint of Violet Hour

At the end of every hard earned day

with your soft soft hands, the urge for oblivion

so at the dawn of every half baked day

the urge to rush headlong into

a chaos of body or mind ***body and mind***

attend the show the shower

the showering of gifts and blessings

foryouandyou and you my fine

feathered friends invisible, impossible

disguised as wallpaper in honorable spylife

this one after a trip quad on empty

come on get back on the space shuttle charlie

the recidivist escapiste freedome rock feverbe

mean reverb, mean like man said mansize childhoodes

and childish menhood, plural, pluraliste all

still to be mined for cheapest of mineral

does the onset of sunset cave this craving, or

does base circadian buzz bring it on, a

reward for negotiating another day a.k

swerving another encounter with reality

like a cheap cuban lift, with a wiggle in your walk

some vulgar ego strut, exhume exhale, a crass

exultation to be filed under mistrust

the outbreath of relief after the 5000th stuffed

shirt day, like: daddy gets his drink on

like: jerry the jerk loosens

his tie and get his mojo working

& cycling downhill watch me no hands

to the next alarm

Card and cake, 4pm

As you wailed at turning thirty

it was my cue to grasp the diem

and clearing my throat ahem

with 'I wish to make a declaration'

that will shame me terminally

and with force majeure afore

in front of the world or at least the miniature

but really very important portion

in which my social mask resides

by suggesting no insisting

that we run away run away la la

right now without logging off

or even our coats press the G

and go walk out the door with a

so long suckers and a fuck yeah pair

of fingers then the trad nervous glance

by the coffee shop in the blinding

sun as no one follows

and the soundtrack swell can't be heard but

still turn it up and turn to me and kiss me now

you're mine I'm yours you'll do

even if we've barely exchanged a word these

past three years I will I so will and

the rest of all time begins now

Folie à deux

If you were buried underground you don't need to say

underground that is implied in 'buried' carry on

but if you *were* for say a hundred days maybe

from mid-december to the beginning of spring wrapped

mute in a mummification pact then you may appreciate

the thawing very unsatisfactory word the

clicking cracking of bone the bloom of blood

the loosening of musckle gristkle and whatnot

a process which some claim could take another

cent jours during which you headless geese

suffering sarcophagus in your stink rags

you will have forgotten your own holy names and

how you came to inhabit this wintry incarceration

but blessed

to meet again

forgetful

as strangers

The bed of roses

It was a dark and stormy night

and on closing the front door

for a two hour tragedy, see a

gift has swept up on the path

a row of bright red roses in a brick base

soon revealed by forensic analysis

to be constructed from plastic and foam

convincing only from fifty feet and

easily transported ‘pon a tempest from

balcony or o’er feeble fence

First thought best thought was that you had

rocked up wild-eyed windswept and filled

with the passionate intensity

hurled it from a passing taxi / vehicle

as a contemptuous christmas present

a nod to the fake, the flimsy,

the indecent lack of seasonal miracle

The intrigue and high disdain, the

magnitude of such a gesture would have

lent some glamour to the bleak

midwinter, as you trudged into

the deserted heart of the city

like there was somewhere you needed to be

1/1000th

i) Cketofthathyooxd

1979 wyr notebooks you hadv a plan

equipped with a recorder and a car horn, spastic symphony

a James Last vinal as backbone

sneaked guitar was like a anteloopen hyphen, correct

1981 was constant daytime tv tape splicing

courtroom dramas, Russian lagrange & puppet shows

and now we are dead as will be agreed, but in the limesrobe

even Sludge likes Vangelis an yk-

I WALKED THA STREETS UNKNOWN

lovely to have the creatif outlet (Auntie Kez)

I WENT sssshhh to Sussex University to study Human Geography so so

how dare you criticise my wood turning efter aw tha

it's all I can do to top myself from tell you those words

-saxophone solo-

1984 tape to tape baby, pause and record, play and record, get

yourself a Star Ward haircut ye feculent fruit

Whamboys and bloated grey slacks and maybe we are all

mere lumps on that rock eh paid 13.49 not 14.49

admit it you only dim this bcs you were there

and the stinking grit of the YEARS

beneath your sking

sure you'll be lucky to see me tomorrow

a little balm and a little honey

in every pack of pistachios there are

one or two shells which are resistant to

the fingernail the addictive leverage

the satisfying splitting apart

you put them aside and save them for later

meanwhile pick, click, chew and finally

return to the awkward ones

refusing to yield their treasure

curse them go ahead curse them you won't

be defeated, you will solve their riddle

you will break their will

maybe they can be persuaded

by tiny hammer or rolling pin

we don't have a rolling pin

but don't we have a nutcracker somewhere

there was one at christmas, and

something else happens more wine

a movie some family business and the

two nuts stay on the edge of the table

waiting to be splintered or just tossed in

the trash in the cold morning light

Make it new

Day one all the units - stuck

dented and cracked - came out

the oven at last euthanised

wallpaper steamed off

tiles levered loose like teeth

The attachments of years

brutalised within hours

laminate ripped without mercy

There was no problem with the sink but

it too was sacrificed for the cause

water off electric off

a chance to see what was under it all

pale old floor, naked walls

ventilation wounds

Water back electric back

the hammering stops and this

time next week you won’t

remember how it all used to be

'Scenes' viz.

The opening and closing scenes witnessed

weekly had more of a lasting

impact than the episodes of course

Which is why I had to look up the name of

The One Where the soldier gets his

uniform and medals cut off in public *

aka "cashiering (public degradation and drumming out of the military)"

before roaming the unforgiving land

trying to find some peace of mind

- the unjustly accused individual v The Machine -

And The One Where the debonair

dudes gallop through the fields **

to that thrilling soundtrack

fighting for what they wanted, which

was gleefully unclear to me at the time

although of course I was on their side, which

means in retrospect I supported

France v Spain during the War of the Mantuan Succession (1628–1631)

for what it's worth at this late stage. And

Naturally, we have to mention Captain Scarlet

Earth v Mars, 2068

'he won't speak to you while this is on'

who was <indestructible/> key point

with piercing eyes and fearless chin

- see also: "its inclusion of a multinational, multiethnic

puppet cast and its depiction of a utopian future Earth"

powerful undercurrent, plus consider if you will

the Angels - of mercy and death - and

the Captain undeterred by sharks and dynamite and

devilish peril on a daily basis

resolute in the face of vipers, quicksand

and spiky walls

A fierce but unknowingly terrified six-

year-old will be lit up by such visions

themes of adventure, fraternity

violence and disgrace

A churning bowl of shame and courage

that you could claim toxic,

transformative or both

* Branded, USA 1965-66

** The Flashing Blade, France 1967

*** Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, UK 1967-68

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branded_(TV_series)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flashing_Blade

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Scarlet_and_the_Mysterons