August Autumn

 

resting on the leaves the leaves
the leaves around the leaves to fall
playfully hang
in meditation the leaves upside-down upward peer
rustling wonder 
and in rushes a prayer still transmitting..

wispy silhouettes of gently whirling air
her coffee vapour rises to the slowly lowering branches
as she sits with a tome
leaves turn leaves
to paraglide and to rise..

the coffee table is white
in the way melting snow is
the shade of a wordless wish yet to be lost..

she sits by a formica coffee table
she sips the coffee like it is
the nectar in everything and on her lips
the infinite sea of the sipping drops..

she is reading a physical book
like they really did back in the twentieth
she is reading a physical book
and she is real
and the leaves that fall 
to ponder and rustle
to ask
for a duet
for the leaves-in-waiting to breathe..

and an ocean wave of auburn
laps down her left shoulder blade
certain strands glint like threads
threads of the deepest red wine counterpoint
a lime quarry of surface-mined philistine 
an untethered pavement dirigible of used inflated tyres passes by
hunting on tinder for a horny recycling bin
please note in the twenty-first 
this counts as a realised manifestation of empowerment..

i have a book with me
should i ask her to kiss
she would bless the words
though the barista might call the police..

does this sound too much like the intoned narration
of a reflective car window-man in a hopelessly romantic european film
the battered citroen itself a disillusioned marxist..

a film made before the tail end of yesteryear
full of other-worldly colour symbology
okay i will stop here
the twenty-first century has no need for such dreamy dreary nonsense
smoke blown please walk with me..

Time-Bound Alchemists Of The Golden Nothing (Are We There Yet? Yeah, Almost..)

 

would you like to own this bullet point 
this non-fungible token of pressed and compressed parallel air..

purchase segments by installment 
comfortably at your own pace
own this precious mental art space..

then..
flaunt on the blockchain marketpace your inflation-proof investment
integrate your good self with the semblance
and here is the grid reference 
initiate..initiate..

this small rectangle here [        ] for you to colonise
represents this parallel air-art installation frozen malleable
and your hypothicated asset
will be presented to you
wrapped in this limited edition ether gift case..

so please handle this piece of architecture with great care
your composition of many zeros
consider a piece of prime land
bi-located in trans-dimensional nothingness cloud-locked
stay amazed
for every micro dot could be yours to own
the entire bullet point contains ever-splitable subdivisions
subdivisions of the bullet point constellation
ever the drop containing the information ocean
never mind what resides within your very essence
never mind sentience..

so much more
so much more valuable than a piece of ordinary unregulated air
this piece of parallel air forged into a bullet point
this will be your status symbol
this piece of air-art will hold long-lasting cultural relevance
perhaps for a little more than a short while
empty ephemera now more than ever never out of style..

parallel air-art as avatar icon
space-saving asset class of zero-dimensional substance
the days of paper-art will soon be over
paper abused and tarnished by destructive earth-hating painters
you and your bullet point will help fight climate change
trees will no longer be genocided for two-dimensional landscape
perhaps unregulated air should also be regulated
why should air be consumed for free
why should air be consumed for free
now what a market that would be..

to certify authenticity and ownership
each bullet point will have its own unique identifier
use proudly as your sigil as your banner
no need to be ironic
upload to your art-wallet
please note the expiry date
on request we can send you the fine print..

also coming soon
own your allotted central bank digital currency
you will hold the keys to your allowance
for as long as every facet of your good self remains super-aligned
only then your given parallel airy currency hypothecated
will not be erased or reconsigned
otherwise all will be fine
all will be fine..

and to help combat fraud
we will monitor every purchase you make
you will agree that cash must be criminalised
and all your habits and communications notarised
for you have nothing to hide
you have nothing to hide..

and to further encourage cbdc-uptake
you will be rewarded
with a cbdc-positive tick-mark
we have selected you as a lead-pioneer
you will be gifted ten-million benign bot-followers
these hypothecated humans monetise
as they like subscribe and share and sign-up the npcs..

and to further imbed and imbue a sense of cbdc-belonging
active smart citizens will be uplifted with higher scores
and as you are appointed a primary influencer
an enlightened and enlightening emissary
a flashing magnetising nodal point tantaliser
you will enjoy a more flexible spend-time allowance
and you will be able to fire some people
and if you feel an ache or emptiness inside
these are only teething pains and they should soon subside..

so do not wish away your privileges
you should twice-daily monitor your citizen credit score
remember tomorrow will not be like the bad old days of cash
where transactions like highwaymen wore masks..

to spend your cbdc 
you will only need to flash the reader your iris
as was uncannily predicted in old science fiction films
your iris is ours
your iris is ours neural-lattice-trademarked and protected..

so stay tuned
for very soon your cbdc will charge to the rescue
to defeat the fiercest crises predicted by boomeranging nostradamuses..

we have the injectables
a technology hacked blackout
more scarcity more blockades more broken supply chains
and a war the war
triggering an unfortunate and utterly unpredictable series of events..

here shall breathe dragons of monumentous epoch-changing circumstance
demanding imaginative and daring solutions
for immediate implementation
the debate can happen later..

never worry for we are on it
can you not already see our handiwork around you
the engineered divisions the misdirections
the soul-destroying self-identifications
the medications
the neurosis
the intention..

another upside
a currency crash will save our world
and our banks
and cbdc will usher in a new earth
all our players are locked-and-loaded
so all that you see playing out before you now
merely the theatre generating all the reasons
to offer you our selfless gifts to be deemed essential..

a wink
always a wink
your signature
and here is your expiry
this can be revised and changed by us at any time..

from now think of yourself as a precious piece of biometric data
lashed to a digital representation of you
you will be preserved even after deletion
your good self cloned for immortality
your iris are all mine to paraphrase the line
for a designated time
and for all time
we can match you with any crime
many have already given away their dna
those ancestral databases entice better than we expected
yeah turns out i am related to cleopatra and a manchurian dentist
at least i know who i am now..

you will always be treasured as our collectable asset
as unique as non-fungible art
as fresh as a bullet point
a bullet point with a flexible expiry date..

we have a sense of urgency for we are time-bound
do not fret about this
it is quite profound
it is way above your pay grade
this war being partly metaphysical
we are called soulless but in fact we are very mystical..

so not long now
before your central bank digital currency saves you
block and chain
get ready for the new now
we are wizards
we are wizards
alchemists of this turning
alchemists of the golden nothing
first a little more trauma must be tapped and released
we will feed on those sweets
as we resolutely respond to the cries for the treatment
then everyone will be initiated
spirit annhialating spirit and to deadline
then out will be carved a remarkable new time..

Tender Moments In Grand Schwabia

 

father superior booth granny
with your diaphanous bearded testicle of one breast
please forgive me for i have transgressed
transform me..

do go on..

father superior booth granny
i confess i am plagued of murmurings possessed
self-crimpled i drain deliquescent
gurgling throughout my murky thought-canals
obtuse and unreasoning
afflicted as i am with..
thinking...thinking..
i beg you to carve..

oh it shall be done

i shall be booth granny

you did right by informing on yourself..

all the blessings of the grand schwabia upon you

let pebbles of his magnificence bathe you

sup this smart-dust wafer

take these vampire protein spikes

i press this implant upon you

my rod of furry prions shall transform you
explode you with my light

and should you succumb to any more..
any more..thoughts..

please return at once for attitudinal correctives
let this laser scalpel be your guide..

father superior booth granny
your fluoride is my apple juice
my gonads i need them not..

in the goblet then
your mind
your gonads
your third eye
for the state delicatessen..

i feel it already oh i feel it
i am it..
i humbly donate all my extractions to grand schwabia..

blessings..

your gifts are now noted in the obsidian ledger

your second-sight folded in toto

stay blissful in the smart city grid

continue to do

as you have done for grand schwabia

stay designed

stay the humble subject of grand schwabia

monitor and inform on yourself

you are now boosted to optimum levels..

father superior booth granny
with your diaphanous bearded testicle of one breast
..i....i..
oh what was i 
what was i about to say next..
my thoughts are..scattered..
i..

ah..i see you are done
take a whole day off work
rest and..
stay designed
and do not do any headstands for a while
for your head bandages are to be recycled..

Imaginary Friend

 

and there
right there beside you
beside you while passing this strange fairground land
the shadow-blending play arcs a spectrum of light
the presence there from the vast somewhere 
the grain the essence the flare of the imaginary friend..

there to bear arms with you in the here and tomorrow
or for while mysterious scales stay tipped
for perhaps the existential vacuum is corded
connecting reconnecting layering
reciprocating then replaying
meaning
load-bearing the real with the imaginary transcending...

you have your imaginary friend..
i have to go
i have to go..
..soon..

..and their imaginary friend
the contrail the wisp of cloud interlace..

in all the plasticity
in all the hardness
in all the contrariness
in the whole dynamic
in the loss
in the broken bond shock
in the confusion at the discord
in the heartache still beating to an echo of a once syncopated time
in the imaginary friend the imaginary friend..

the imaginary friend
the imaginary friend wept as you wept
their firm touch
the flesh your corrugated angel felt
through and through
the bracing ocean breeze ozone
the gold
the entre nous secrets
the dark humour in those soft stones
now here bygone..

the imaginary friend
some adults grow out of it
in deeper space catch themselves
wondering who
wondering what they were
what gifts..

laid low reflective as clear as a bell
chiming the minor chords of burst bubble-time struck angular
forlorn pressed against the vast
as a certain comet once near passes
offering a generous peacock display of ice and dust-trail fireworks..

shared conversations confidences the concord
and the oz-effect of that silence so listening
so breathing
so present
so being
the alone so entangled..

Point Of Entry

 

sitting quietly still
watching the scenery roll by
like a fleshed-out studio production
with accompanying wobbly vaudeville piano
a ski-slope slide..

the passers-by
a character study
who am i..

tufts of tumbleweed rain
another piece of scenery
windows eyes..

the scenery performs all by itself
observe
consciousness is not a spreadsheet
the fade-to-vivid..

every mundane second
silvery
one hallmark of full-blown sobriety
the intense psychedelia of the ordinary
an appreciation appearing to appear on..

i tie ribbons to a few strands of shredded drizzle
stark and saturated and striking
a guitar solo for abandoned new warehouses
the enigmatic open smile of a crumpled car bonnet
an adagio of ignored alarms
the swelling silence blows a candle..

i disappear into this
the nothing
something more than an upended zero
more than rolling green fields
living cat-dragged pedigree luminous
like a newly abandoned lover
the flat grey city plains unfold
valleys
vast ticking seconds
the weird of human..

watering reflections
water reflections
poetry with impunity
poetry without direction
so effortless
gently points..

 

The Indignantee

 

only the other day
yours truly again had to listen
listen to the tired old argumentation
about why tony blair should be stripped
stripped of his well-deserved knighthood
can you believe it..

the indignantee was puce of skin and word
livid and burning pomegranate
grim with righteous anger
a self-combusting human pamphlet
how is it that tony blair has been made a sir
i signed a petition
a petition..
and yet he is still enjoying his knighthood
what am i missing..

most of the time i am a quiet and patient man
but on this rare occasion i had to be the contrarian
and with a slightly raised voice i replied
my good man
know this
you will never amount to be even a thirty-third
a thirty-third of the man that tony blair is..

tony blair served the crown in ways that you can only dream of
have you..
selflessly gifted tax-payer checks to the military industrial complex
or declared war on a noun to usher in our beloved surveillance state
or help eliminate another half-a-million iraqi men and  women and children
to quote madeleine albright before him
..a price worth paying..
it would not hurt to show some gratitude
gratitude for such sacrifices that he helped make
for the crown
now go away and eat some yellowcake..

Should The Magistrate Go Straight To A Potato

 

surprising even herself she coyely confessed 
this is the first time i have ever seen someone do that with a potato
colour me impressed
and i cannot believe i am about to admit 
i want to try it out for myself
i desire to do it now right now 
right now
i feel a pressing urge
but i have to go to the supermarket first
for needs must..

then she stopped dead in her tracks and enquired
…but what kind of potato can do that
i mean is there a difference between a king edward and..
what about organic
it sounds silly but should i first talk to it
or rub it gently like a genie a lamp
i am a married woman so i will not stroke it
i just cannot bring myself to do something like that
not yet..

she giggled
of course i am only joking
i jest
i am not really married..

i just cannot bring myself to stroke a potato
maybe one day yes
but not just yet
i need to upgrade my potato-rubbing skill-set first
take it slowly and deliberatively step by step
yes i feel a bit of a lemon
at school i never took potato-rubbing classes for lemons..
she giggled again..

ah lemons..
and what about lemons
should i train with lemons first
or because lemons are different to potatoes
somewhat like apples are to oranges
lemons are not potatoes i think i mean..

or is it more like comparing daffodils with puffins
or is comparing lemons to potatoes
with apples to oranges
with daffodils to puffins
as silly as comparing or even contrasting the yeti
to a merengue to the loch ness monster
i hope that makes sense..
she said apologetically..

but what if the loch ness monster is a baby boomer
a baby boomer loch nes monster
who still owns a hostess trolley and a working fondue set
or am i now being very silly
this is so unlike me
honestly this is so unbelievably unlike me
i am still a magistrate
i need to remind myself that i am still a magistrate
in a medium-size town with ungodly dark edges..

and correct me if i am wrong
but a fondue set cannot make a merengue
or can it
should it
i really should know this..
she admonished herself..

she rubbed her own chin thoughtfully then pressed on
in other words
would even rubbing a lemon help me with a potato
and although i have never stroked a daffodil or a puffin
just supposing i had
just supposing i had stroked a daffodil or a puffin
or even only lightly rubbed one discreetly at arms-length
could i then go straight to a potato
or would the lemon thing still be best to start off with..

so to recap from rubbing to stroking
should i rub a daffodil then a puffin then a lemon then a potato
or should i go straight to the potato without touching a lemon
i underline
rubbing not stroking
please understand
i have my limits..

also i must ask
what kind of lemons are most like potatoes
and as importantly
what kind of lemons are least like potatoes
for example
i have eaten lemon-flavoured potatoes
but yet to have even once had a potato-flavoured lemon
do potato-flavoured lemons even exist in our world
she gazed to the heavens for a sensible answer
well maybe in russia..

she pondered
my goodness this has become so involved and so confusing
if you had told me only this morning
that i would be talking earnestly with you
about potatoes puffins lemons and daffodils and loch ness monsters
yetis fondue sets hostess trolleys baby boomers and meringues
i probably would never have believed you..

but perhaps..
but perhaps as you seem like such a decent gentleman
i probably would have
nothing is simple is it
but there it is
life is always so full of surprises
and i a middle age woman
who in one particularly memorable and carefree teenage year
enjoyed the stone roses storm their delightful signature set at wigan pier..

Hum The Colours Hum Silence

 

peeking through gaps of closed bedroom curtains
sunbeam shards tint projecting
for the haze a planetarium filter
screening the dust mote constellation fluttering
above my head arcing circling scintillating..

below the ceiling yet somehow higher
slowly twirling pastels swirl..ever so..
almost an angel dust moonbow
or a suspended-in-air giant snail shell
rolling rotating
inviting my upward gaze..

a levitating question mark
of opalescent golden elfin strands
waves of gentle glinting topaz
honeycomb my brushed eyelashes enchantment..

i laze on the bed likening
and wordlessly pondering what connections
as the constellation envelops
folding rising
expanding
dissolving
morphing its wonder
and a small moth helicopters anthracite
enticed to explore
flitting across this swatch of cosmos
faster than the speed of light could fling..

approach
i close my eyes
the light being the silence
studded with creamy copper-tone stars
fall on the bed sheets and land and
enthroned colours hum inside my eyelids
unheard-of..

The Stream, Anciently..

 

the days of the poison pen letter
ink
accusations
ad hominum cross examination
crossings out
smudges
torn photographs attached neatly with a red paperclip
angry asterisked notes in the margin
i will never forgive you for the vodka/bacardi incident never..
one-paragraph-a-page terseness
that florid concision
the seal of a cigarette burn on the page
the mosquitos of ash and a proverb
no need to reply
the return address on the envelope
you can still wish me a happy birthday
is that not the least you can do
exclamation mark question mark..

the days of the love letter
ink
musings
crossings out
smudges
pencilled illustrations
perfume-scented 
asterisked notes in the margin
explanation
the strange apology and the yearning
no need to reply
no need to say anything
just wanted you to know how i still feel
though i know you know
so here i am again just counting down the days
before i have you all to myself again
suggestions for suggestions..

the days of unfolding..

Grin Reapered

 

oh how he aches to be a part of something
something truly momentous in human history
something to be remembered for millennia..

well lucky for him
the biggest bomb ever
will soon flatten him into oblivion with his entire city..

Yoga Of Ostrich

 

from the vantage point of the ostrich
saturated
collaged
curated
head in the ground searching for the origin point
of the rainbow shine
the mind bubbling bent from light..

from the vantage point of the ostrich
shepherded
parcelled
distributed
undulated on the unrolling 
ambience subterranean wave machine engineers provide..

here the battalions of ostriches are
slugged by crabs alluring siren songs
to search under the sand starless
and lying here their astrologers and astronomers are..

here the ostriches stand
protruding asses extrude slanty aerials
stay informed and trust the plan
here clawing laser pens the ostriches stand..

from the vantage point of the ostrich
triggered
enraged
reconfigured
synchronise-dancing to the beats of the echo chamber
a seeded solid state unit awake reflexive
uplifted projecting toxic froth insensible..

the ostrich occasionally raises its head
searching for sunglasses
then gazes wide-eyed at the sun-gazers
bemused and more than a little disgusted..

Box-Fresh

 

tourniquet the unknown war widow
as flags are folded in memoriam
for soldiers popped to orphan a casket..

imposing monuments loom
the fallen autumn leaves lightly smudge
the official line signed-off and vaulted..

anthems fulsome stir solemn empty
salt the desert a vast glisten
water the lake of tears a mirage..

veiled shells succumb
struck numb clutch those photographs
polish the frame of the finger-brushed glass..

solder base metal filigree
a sapling fashioned to nail a piece of earth
posthumously decorate with box-fresh toy animals..