states worse than Myanmar
what's the frigging point
eh you’re gonna croak one fine
day the sun will out
skylarks do their last
song for you the war is oh
stick your dexters up
Stalin’s personal
Waterloo is all that’s left
mate so say your peace
shuffle off in style
or get down & pray makes no
difference privileged
infamous a plain
nobody your corpse bereft
lies in state or skip
nothing will exist
just a name on googleplex
thin as woven air
in & out of time
stirring up a hurricane
then a lovely calm
tell you what comes next
since the afterlife has popped
toss a loaded dice
mend your selfish ways
let the people vote for once
and accept their choice
join The President
play some golf he must be great
company these days
*
the discovery of swimming
hold this proof to be impertinent
if Pythagoras invented hand
flippers frankly Benjamin was well
out of his depth
tide had turned with King Canute’s decree
ringing in our ears humankind spilled
overboard a thousand galleons
sunk without trace
swell so fat the cargoes lost their feet
murky whirlpools sharks all kindsa toe
hungry fish & storm about to break
how did it go
touching bottom rock & sand no grass
grew tectonic plates kept continents
on the move survivors had to shoal
tiddlers hold fast
dolphins seals it’s down to us now surf’s
breaking close to shore hey mind that reef
nose their bodies out & count those still
able to breathe
*
no sympathy please
shall we call it quits
now the past & I go back
sixty years & more
face the awful facts
Judgement Day was holding back
to upset my end
notwithstanding nights
woken by embarrassing
memories we share
me myself & I
call us what you will we’ve played
many roles till now
clown & clot you’ve got
darker things put by to rot
down the rabbit hole
in a former life
I was Adolf’s teenage bum
chum & confidante
I unplugged the dyke
flooding Haalem’s market square
on a dare & joke
it was me who spoke
out against democracy
whispered coup d’état
then I murdered truth
raised the shirts of innocent
homosexuals
were my crimes avenged
did they string me up & watch
while I paid the price
no so get them out
let the consequences spice
up these shameful lines
no one will believe
I did all that stuff their sleeves
billowing with laughs
so there’s nowt to lose
nothing on the table but
cards I show my heart
hardly more than speech
acts a madman’s careless talk
victims only ghosts
let me off with stern
warnings plus a three-book deal
empathy at last
Not Sir Bloomin' Likely!
