Above Nocturnal Corners Dance The Dust Motes

 

the online profile to knit-weave
looking beyond your very best now
back-engineering your very own alter
you enter inside your shadow-you
the walk-in glitch
the mouse dagger carves the doppelganger tooth fairy
both of you hitch the ride
both of you are the stranger guest..

the you pill
the message in a bottle is a hybrid clone
a psy-op on both sender and receiver
hopeful the black mirror evanescence may trigger
the crime scene to sparkle that now or never-voodoo..

a beautiful bonfire on an oil slick
flames shapely
all the dancing horses
waver and vanish abruptly in the gaze..

finally a wrap
your fourth wall bipolar
banging your head against your eyes startled and tired
you press upload..
then to relax you kidnap a nun to hijack a taxi to drive-by a canary..

..you then meet your fated target
or at least one that will do
the right lighting thing
the right angle thing
the beautifying app software thing
will not be there at the meet-up
not at the job or romance or one-nighter interview..

so you might sense disappointment
for there might not be that you there there
and they might sense your disappointment in them too
both absences present and standing to attention
the mirages only dissolve to diamond..

so what to do
perhaps on returning home you try even harder to render
handsomer/prettier/even more fun-loving and vivacious
more intense/more artistic/more intellectual/more sporty
more committed to the job opportunity
more committed to the universe
this universe any universe..
or..

you could lighten your load
hand yourself a break
ever wonder why so many are having breakdowns
ever wonder if at least some of this might be intended..

quite recently while i was at a terminus
my train delayed
the partial lockdown partially lifted
so you could call it a partial partial freedom day..

so a few people were milling around
more than would be the case
on let us say a partial partial partial freedom day
so bars and cafes and coffee shops were a quarter half-open
the masks drank breathing chins
on karaoke matt hancock sang matt hancock so softly
like he was au fait with the incoming karma thing..

and as i was looking up at the timetable
i noticed a man was stood outside a small restaurant
a tad anxiously his bright eyes were searching..

he was dressed for a night out
nice shirt and trousers
a light linen jacket for spring..

and i was about to gaze back up at the timetable
whence from the corner of my eye i caught sight of a woman
sensual elegant understated electronic
furtively half-hidden behind a shop door
he turned to gaze in her general direction..then away again..
perhaps the glass reflecting at him
meant he could not see..

back down she stared at her phone
she studied the screen
then she tilted her head up at him again
no hope..

then..
swishing behind her silhouette
she made her away trotting up the escalator
half covering her side profile
her hand a magnet
so inconspicuous..

but he was turned again in her direction..
a beat..
a beat..
a beat..

then..
lowering his eyes
down
he reflected..

then..
he placed his phone inside his jacket pocket
he strolled away slightly zig-zag
like a smart vacuum cleaner on night-stealth mode
above nocturnal corners dance the dust motes..

he stopped to look up at the timetable
his departing train arriving a few hours early..

another woman sitting nearby
was watching him thoughtfully
she had no phone in her hand
he did not see her..

The Tree Hugger

 

leaning against a tree
messaging a friend
absent-mindedly she gently patted the tree trunk
the breeze
the breeze was a colour
the colour of its sound
and the sound was the scent of dappled canary sunlight..

leaning against the tree
she began to feel in the strange flow
a tree as ancient as english pagan wisdom
the bark as soft as parchment of an ancient scroll
the bark as cool-warm as triptychs kissed by summer solstice
the bark as flowing as the secret river under the pyramids of giza
the bark as mysterious as the woman veiled of cydonia..

leaning against the tree
she gazed up at the veined leaves lit by fire life
the lime leaves dipped in outlines of constellations
the branches lowering arms
the arms circled and curved
the arms brushed around her like velvet on night
the velvet embraced her air
her air embraced arms
she embraced the embrace
and the leaves kissed her
all of the tree
and all of the tree her every forest..

Astral Strikethrough

 

having completed the final draft of her latest novel
yeila elhouzzy at long last pressed send
now her editor will pore over to occasionally         with a guiding remark
with a stretch and sigh yeila stepped onto her amethyst sea garden..

the gorgeous waves of night so enticing the cloud fish lapped
and the mauve and silver-tinged sky glistened like gemstones
the four moons splashed up their activating rays
lime and obsidian ocean-yellow and grass-crimson..

she breathed in the tingling and loaded cool marine air
the heavenly-scented coriander orchids in full bloom
the parrot orangutans chirruping in the glades
the flying ziggurats zooming above the mangroves of rice noodles..

her lover handed her a bowl of snow pear wine
gently he massaged her shoulders and beckoned her back inside
on the frosted floating sheets they made love amid dark glitter light
and what a sleep they fell into as a pearlescent dawn arose..

her novel was a speculative fiction affair
set in a strange far away world so different from here
yes so different yet yes not so different after all
plenty for her readers to immerse themselves in and mull over..

her fictional world is a waring and divided one but not the same as here
not along lines of plasma group or octaves of dimensionality
not along lines of parallel reality mysticism or telepathic muscularity
not along lines of timeline catastrophism or moon beam energetics..

her editor flew up through the air-glass tube a week or so later
he enjoyed the premise of the novel and the speculative wit therein
but he had trouble believing in the divisions of that world
make their divisions less incredible and more realistic like here..

 

Fulfilment Centre For A Billionaire-Haiku

croesus feels alive
empty man to the vacuum
a hollow rocket..

The Extremist In Wonderland

 

the breaking news strapline rolls across the screen
caught finally
hunted down
trapped and cornered like a wild and dangerous rabid animal
shot dead by intelligence officers
thankfully the danger now over
normal service will resume shortly
this crazy individual is no longer a threat to us all
our way of life
the brave officers are thanked by the prime minister
and the majesty and the city..

so i chill out and watch a cake baking show
a judge looks at a contestant and proclaims
this blancmange is good enough to eat..in france
the contestant now crying because he made a nice blancmange
a blancmange that is good enough to eat..in france..

and all makes sense now
and again everything falls into its proper perspective
and again all is in its right place
and again there is a god..

but i gaze out the window
i am afraid i cannot help myself
pondering and questioning while recollecting..

so this whole strange nonsense began late last year
he always hit them/us randomly
then disappeared
seemingly effortlessly vanished
vanished just vanished..

the essential questions were asked
who is he..
why..
is he doing this alone or is he part of a secret network..
and what are his motivations..
when and where will this unhinged disrupter strike next..

his first time oh where was it
yes his first hit was in that shopping precinct
funny thing is i go there sometimes
it could have been me then
how my life would have profoundly changed
i know that i am being selfish thinking like that
but there it is..

then that music festival
he struck right when the headliner was playing
becoming more brazen
right out there in the open air 
he then casually walked away
so casually
lost himself in the melee
around eighty-thousand people affected
granted some more than others
but they all witnessed it
when interviewed some witnesses were crying
weeping that they could never be the same again
they felt so different now
how could they remain unaffected
after seeing all of it
and after feeling all of it..

and again and again and again he hit
another cinema hall
another night club
another restaurant
another place of worship
one bus after another
one train after another
one airport after another
he would not stop
perhaps he could not stop
he never issued any kind of warning
he hit again and again and again
male female black brown white rich poor young old
it seemed to make no difference to him at all
one hospital ward after another
one hospice after another
a few times he even hit veterinary surgeries
imagine that
even animals were a target
there was no stopping him
no place was off limits
what was he thinking the media asked
what gave hime the right..

and some people were beginning to see him as a hero..

the experts did a psychological profile
surprise surprise the experts solemnly deduced
he probably kept himself to himself 
probably had no friends
probably unemployed or a remote worker
some kind of..something
someone who did not be want to be noticed
someone who did not share our values
therefore an extremist
and what could be worse than that
we were directed
that we should not want to be like him
not to think like him
not to act like him..

after ploughing through all the cctv images
and cross referencing them with all the other state surveillance data
finally they were able to narrow down his base of operations
but it took a while
he did not make it easy for them
he was always one step ahead
some asked whether he had a sympathiser on the inside
either way he was calculating he was ruthless and he was clever..

but in the dead of last night
they tightened the noose
he was on them though
and he ran down an alleyway to make his escape
but they were waiting
and they shot dead the random healer
for they had no other option..