POUND DOWN TO A DOLLAR

This day has been many times for some
Never to rub their pennies together
The poor slobs
Or get the chance to compare
Size
Thickness
Idiocy
Liberty and regitude
Brass and gold
Token and nugget
Is it a lucky pocket
That has them both

THE EDGE OF FREEDOM

The kids burst out of the aquarium and run, whooping, onto the sand. They perform cartwheels and flips as their teachers order hot dogs for the lot of them. 

An old lady does her tai chi a little further down the beach. She is watched or ignored by the big, black-backed gulls on the rock. 

I taste salt in the air. I shouldn’t really be here. When you’re off work sick you should have the decency to stay in bed, and not behave like a tourist. 

I lick my lip and ignore my first thought about Margaritas. I let myself be reminded of Smithson. Having not yet visited any of his many wonderful museums in DC I am surprised that I learned one thing from the far reaching layers of his massive onions, although it is no surprise why it has presented itself.

a) Smithson conducted experiments to determine the chemical content of a lady’s teardrop. 

I wonder why that lady's tears should be thought any different than mine and I wonder if she cried for similar reasons but it doesn't really matter to me that she could have been and I wonder if that thought is sadder than all of this reality.  

ON FIRELAND

You become

Keenly aware again

Of sharing your space

With many species

You learn to keep your mouth shut

But not because of what may come out

The insect eaters are back

Just like in Capistrano

And they skim as many little suckers as possible

But it's not enough

They are what makes the world

When is the ocean dull

Three swans paddle unseen

Through the flatness

Past an anchored fishing boat

But terns twist above the surface

Determined to stir something

These salty swallows

Far away in a haze

Through heat and sand and grass and greenfly

That catch in the hairs on your arm

Holding one Longboard Island Lager

Or another in the three hours of peace

Away from visitors to your place

MOFONGO

It’s the first day we’ve been able to lie out  

The atmosphere has been moody 

Here we are though on the loungers  

And the surf mashes onto the buttery sand behind us 

We have brought a book each but are soon distracted by an iguana 

It wanders into vision about twenty feet away on the grass  

In a clearing fringed with coconut palms 

The lizard is big and its tail tapers off to a seemingly infinite point 

It is unafraid and its movements are elegant 

Then it stops 

A smaller one, more colourful, scampers up alongside 

This one has a crest and seems a little skittish 

Are you watching?  

Yes, I say 

Everyone is 

The small one climbs on to the scaly spine of the first 

They stay like that for ten minutes 

Maybe more 

I look at my book 

But can’t finish a sentence  

Some kids from the chalet next door come and take photographs 

It looks like a mother giving its baby a ride 

As chimps cling to the breast 

But I guess they are just having sex  

They are not having sex!   

I sip a little rum as he gets his spuds in slowly 

Is it the way of it here in the tropics 

They don’t seem to care 

There by the bar  

A stone skip from the sea  

As the waves break and break again 

THE NIGHT THEY

There is always something
Going on someplace
But sometimes
By your very absence
What happens is your doing
And so is the consequence

SHAKE SHACK ATTACK

STILL LIFELESS

IF YOU HAVEN'T THE ANSWERS WHY SHOULD YOUR FOUR YEAR OLD SON?

It was an early summer ramble home

- Tell me something, Joe.

- What?

- I dunno. Anything... Tell me why it goes on.

- Everything stings me.

He says
Picking his way through the overgrown
Undergrowth

NEW YORK IN MAY - HOW ABOUT YOU?

HALLO TO ALL HALLUCINATORY HOMUNCULI BIRTHED AFLAME

BEDBUGS

Where is the unlovely gronking of the rooftop gulls

The smart peep-peep of short-tailed English blackbirds

In the dark before the alarm
The night gives birth to more than darkness

Not so much sweat

Not too many droplets crawling along the perineum

That grow legs and cling on and pose

A threat

Any sudden movements are met with groans

And bloody pops

The sheets are soaking the sots

Doing the job of clots

If hell is not sleeping

It's torture not sleeping alone

WE ALL LIVE HERE

ALL THIS MAY SEEM FRIVOLOUS

There is a spot of grey

On this tight white wall

And a tear running

A run tearing through

But that is all

That is not true

SHANE AND BRENDAN

I saw Shane McGowan and Brendan Behan
Through a window on some numbered street
I witnessed them smile and p'shawed about their teeth
For the one that was tall had none at all
But the smaller gave light relief

If you sleep with your head on a pillow
You may get a broken nose
Whilst underneath the fellow
That's where the fairy goes
Yay!

it's not Shane Mcgowan by the way

POSTCARD FROM NEW YORKSHIRE TWELVE

I dunno who Joy is but

With joy we sang in sight of our subway

And tinkled keys at the apartmeant door

We drank grapefruit juice on Wednesday morning

Ate bacon and eggs and rejoyced some more

ish

AND THREE

Hello my dear My name is rejoice, I got your Email address during my searching and I become interested to contact you, because, from my own little understanding i believe that love or friendship makes the world go around,I want to share life experience and culture with you,I do hope by the end of this letter you will bring smile to my face.i believe you will have a little time for me.i have something VERY important to tell you.It's never my desire to remain what I am now,but struggling to become what i am. Give my love to your family and lots of love to you too. Stay in touch and do write to me, Take care your new friend Rejoice.

INTROS from THE INTERNET... two

Privacy of Amin Good Day My good friend, Let this message never be a suprise to you, I am Mr Ameen Amjad,i want us to know each other very well because i will want us to do things together as soon as possible,so with all respect to you i demand for your audience,i will tell you more about myself as soon as i hear from you. Best regards. yours Sincerely Mr Ameen Amjad

INTROS from INTERNET ACCOUNT RAPERS Number One

THIS IS MY WISH, EXECUTE IT WELL

My name is mrs Kate Hogan,I have been surffering from ovarian cancer
disease and the doctor says that i have just few days to leave.I am
from Malaysia, but based in Burkina Faso,Africa since ten years ago as
a business woman dealing with cotton exportation,now that i am about
to end the race like this,without any family members and no child.I
have $2 Million US DOLLARS in Bank of Africa ..... (and you know the rest)

POSTCARD FROM NEW YORKSHIRE ... ELEVEN

In the land of the Everything Burger
It takes time to fry your fish
Tiny battles in a transatlantical relationship
...
Ok Pie it is

BIRD, BOOZE, CONFUSED DOG AND HORSESHOE CRAB AT FIRELAND

NALA, NALA!

VINTAGE, ORGANIC PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGE

GILDED PALACES OF SINS

That's the point of the Empire State

You can't see

NEW YORKSHIRE PIE SHOPPE

HAVE YOU EVER HAD THAT HAPPEN?

Sat in a public place
To read abookishly
I was unliterally waylaid
By familiarity on every page
Cousins between the lines
Siblings under them
Daughters to be that whisper
Like leaves

Should these words offer something
New and warless
Not a bomb
A somewhole peace
Within this deafening rememberance
Maybe

FARTS

The meek shall inherit shit left by an earlier shift
Like the napalm wind of Vietnam cancer

Do with that world what your ever loving wills you to

Marching on in maybedays