Sylvia Plath's Silver Fox

sylvia plath
oh how you made us laugh
alas 
if only you had used a microwave oven

ted hughes
like all great poets
you were great with women weren't you
and to be fair
you also wrote a really good poem about a fox
and you got laid many times because of it
and apparently three of your loves killed themselves
three 
and then you published some poems about one of them
but not the other two because they were just exes
and it was very well received
i mean the collection
not the suicide in question..

and you told your side of the story
and the critics mostly felt sorry for you
even a feminist plathist jihadist 
and they wished you were still alive
so they could tell you
they had rehabilitated you
posthumously..

an amazon reviewer said this
in their five star review
arrived on time and was exactly as described
and another reviewer said
in their five star review
i bought this for an old lady it was her 100th birthday
a one star review said this
i thought it was the book and it wasn't and now i can't seem to cancel this purchase..

i'm off to write a poem about basil brush right now

Smoke In Amber

the wavering candle

caught my breath ~ your reflective eyes
danced the flame
hour glass irises ~ needle-lava a-bloom
nano magma phosphorescence
yet the forbidden energy consumed to never fade..

the wavering candle
smoke ~
a small affair everlasting ~ only weeks of months
and after then..
and then years later
out of nowhere ~ a wrench
yet here is mostly the rush of rust
ionised iron
though an orbiting dark star's stark magnetics tug the core..

twas of was not was ~
absurd absurd
last night on the tube train
deep underground

the aptness ~ subterranean vertigo
and from some remote depth i conjured this thought-burn
i have no idea i have no idea no idea..
the portent of the looping

pathos foretold
smacked hard by the palm of the driftwood shift work night
oh yeah oh yeah..
i'm sorry if this sounds like poetry
this isn't poetry..

jolted ~ my distorted face
in the upper cut curve of glass
my distorted face spied my distorted face
and the echo chamber of the earphone jury
oh they noticed they noticed
apparition ~ apparition re-folding
extinguished to reignite ~ so inept i am
so so..
is this
quantum entanglement 
her karma served cold..
fire lanterns glowed ashen ~ alien embers a wishbone
for all the wise all nodding dog
the flip side of all this

is 
this
the recitation ~
heart landscapes’ vanquished with misremembered magic mesmerised
a gushing volcano of diamond mist
and in the wash of mid-distant haze ~ a ghost ship or an abandoned igloo..
avidity spoked ~ oh yes ~ for one

rekindling sparks the organic mote and beam..

and up the escalators ~
splintered by the outreach stingray
origami slayer
but would i have it any other way
well would i..

The Breathing Thing

I just breathed an armful
Of some air
Right in
Almost wine glasses full ~ quaffed lasciviously
A still vaping vamp
A toting nitrogen-bong guppy..

         of-consciousness
Pouring like rapturous rain
A megalopolitan merman honey marine..

My lungs of slayer pavement steam
An urban isotope yea-sayer
No messing around
So edgy
Always willing to try new things I am..

Well it is my day off
And I don't think anyone noticed
I enjoy this experience of really breathing deeply
Copiously
Perhaps I should have done this while I was..
     Still a teenager..

Then again..
This breathing
Really Breathing
I suppose this might become a problem
A full-blown intense breathing addiction
Breathing misuse
Air dependency
A breath-head loser
Another atmosphere casualty.. 

Oh I knew he was on something..

The high street granny gaggle collectively gasp

Some men buy fast cars
But as I don't drive
I might take up this
What will women think
Oh I sense their florid murmurations right now
Watching me stoked 
                        in-breathing-out
          Exhaling
On purpose
Almost in an ecstasy
A Dervish
With only my head whirling
A human blowfish on spin..

A washing machine mind air-locked inside-outside-in
Wagons circle the bends..

I don't wish to be crude
But I am doing the breathing thing right now
Almost two degenerate wine glasses full
And to be frank
It feels pretty good
Really good
I know I shouldn't say that
Especially to sensitive poetry types like yourself..

I have a webcam
I can show you
Draw your curtains tight
The land-locked Zen of suck-in-and-blow slap-and-tickle
And I won't ask you what you're airing
As we breathe together..

Stand back my lovely
I hope you're not very married..

There was a time
For the scribes
Of broken line ridiculousness
Bequeathing the midnight oil lamps
Opium and quinine fortified
Undone
They blasted the oud-scented curlicues
And threw a few words in
When their syphilis quack pharmacist threw a tab-tantrum
Later generations rolled rings bluely hashish and alcohol swirly
Perhaps before soon
It might be nitrogen and oxygen
With a dash of helium
Supposedly now wrapping this neck of our trinary system
Or is it binary
Interacting and flashing green our parochial sun
But I don't wish to start a trend..

So please listen
Just say no to Really Breathing
Okay
And yes I admit that I am a hypocrite
You may even write a poem about my shameless hypocrisy if you wish
I get it
The Queen will give you an imperial gong
And you can be her laureate
Poet Oxygen Thieves in Need
That's surely a telethon..

Let's work it
Don't go to the pub tonight
Give this airhead poet five pounds
Poets aren't here for Christmas
         magnanimous malevolent
                 They're here for life..

Soon I should be drowning pints
Litres of this wretched stuff
Sat on a park bench lost and bewildered
Imbibing this strange esoteric ether
With eyes like sockets of a zombie apocalypse
And I don't believe I can ever stop now
It might even kill me before it kills me
Especially that pure grade beach surf ionic shit..

Oh well
Here goes everyday
Escape velocity boomerang
Yeah it was a difficult childhood..