Poems

Ode to the ill.......

O give me a boyfriend oos got the OCD;
who'll scrub the bathroom floor more compulsively than me
stop time, stop all the clocks on the number 23
smashing glass into spirals as his mind drills into me......

spare me the man with the maniac's depression
who'll get high then crash low during morbid sexy sessions
from the fifteenth floor he'll cling, hanging onto tension
though his words have all gone his dead mother gets a mention

i'll run from the man who has lots of different voices
his unwelcoming friends overriding all his choices
stick an axe in my head but it wasn't him who did it
turn my face for a moment and there's one born every minute

but show me the man that the world describes as normal
try and box me on a shelf where the running order's formal
let his mum and his dad and his sisters all adore me
watch me jump off the edge as the cliff drops down before me
no:- give me a man who is mad in every way
who constantly surprises me - a new brain every day
who exalts me in his worship though his head has gone away
yes the man who's lost forever is the man to make me stay




A selection of poems from india:

lovely liam
thank god i'm not thirteen years younger.
you've got everything to lose babe
and i've not got much more to give

you've got your girl and your teenage kicks
family problems and village sagas
but you've got your presence and you stand your ground
and tall and bright you rise, full man

why do i love you? in your eyes when you sing
you understand the same pain as me
the razor's edge between beauty and sorrow
the sounds we make complement silence
and the smiles we make erase the world around us


haikus from india:

this is not a cult
find freedom from religion
in amma see god?


shop man wants to lick my eyes;
heapatitis shawls
cover my shameful shoulders


i've been eating dahl,
spitting lentils, unkind words,
my foul yellow tongue


releasing my bowel
sitting for hours on taailet
impatience my unvirtue


two hundred ruppes
pays me for my services
cheap quick teenage romp

another blonde girl
sleek long hair blows in the breeze
was i your fluffer?

your mind's been raining
come inside my umbrella
i'm your wet playtime


on the eve of gangaur the sky broke
the thunder came and lightning struck down
the lizards came to rest in my witches haven
the begrudging rain stubbornly fell upon the lake

with full but unsatisfied belly i sipped my cinnamon milk
still only a thin layer of rain refuses to quench the arid wasteland
i can hope for more, but settle for less.

uninteresting humans stuff their holes, eyes not registering the transaction
a mosquito declares battle with my covered body
nearing drums and bells provide a dramatic soundtrack to the non-action
periodically i repeat the mantra; 'do not force octopussy on me again'

and at last the rain thumps down upon the tin roof
soothe our souls, save our souls, cleanse our palates




Ukiah

got to wash you right off of me,
and rub myself dry with you:-
the nightowel that couldn't give two hoots


Ts and Cs


Though we haven’t set out our terms and conditions

My days full of doubt produce dark premonitions

I have kept my manual but lost the guidelines

And my freedom pass has been kicked to the sidelines.



I time travel to you in the quiet hours

I find you there on our distant star

When the daylight comes the truth sets in

There is no launchpad for this spaceship we’re in.



And though I’m holding onto you and you’re holding onto me

There’s no premise, no room, there’s nothing here to see

Should have kicked off my heels in the carriage home

But now I’m very much with you still, and very much alone