SHINING

Tags

Humanity, poem, poem poetry political moral, poetry, satire, value

SHINING

On the table a gold sovereign
for which I would sacrifice
everybody, everything

start the war
to end all
wars

so much death
and bloodshed

my sovereign
still shining.

IN GOLD

Tags

gold, meaning, poem, poem poetry political moral, poetry, value, wordplay, writing

IN GOLD

a poem
worth its
weight
in gold

sublimely
light

hard to
keep it
down
on the page

feathering
Its engines
coming in
for
landing

here’s its
sunset clause
(tastes like
tequila so
you
will need
lemon

salt
sugar
no that’s
absinthe

anyway, Lucy,
soon to be here
in the spotlight
ready for
you

to take
in a cube
you might swallow
(read the
gold
lettering)

ready to
replace
sheer self-
indulgence
of 24 carat
gold-
dusted
fillet
steak

EVERY SINGLE MOVE

Tags

meaning, philosophical, poem, poem poetry political moral, poetry, Universe, value, writing

EVERY SINGLE MOVE

I asked the Universe “why”?
and the Universe answered
“how should
I reply?”

“how is it
incumbent upon me
to give you definitive meaning

when your most
prestigious philosophers tell you
the question is
hopeless, or, worse, unanswerable
or, worse still, irrelevant?”

I thanked the Universe for
our time alone
noting,with cutting
irony, that
I am always alone

always marked out as Damian
the insufferable asking
quite pointless
questions
doomed to
do so
until I die
and stop putting
the Universe on the spot

whilst the great multi-dimensional game
carries on regardless, whether
or not there
are players

from the outside, from
our flat and straightforward,
turned-back-on-itself reality

it looks like
two separate boards
two
polarized realities

white against white
black
against black

the monochrome pieces operating on
their monochrome battlefield

hard to
figure out tactics, or strategy

the logic
and purpose behind
every single move.

IN ABSOLUTE TERMS

Tags

Desire, love, meaning, philosophical, poem, poetry, value

IN ABSOLUTE TERMS

paint you
eat you
conquer you
surrender
to you

I am stuck for the verb
that will translate what
I feel

in absolute terms, catching
every nuance of pitch
subtlety of cadence

the poetry in
motion
most worked
of miracles

AND SHINY SHOES

Tags

Capitalism, meaning, poem, poem poetry political moral, Poet, poetry, satire, value

AND SHINY SHOES

the jury’s back
we’re the
most pathetic

believing in
beauty when
there
is none

it’s all so
faithless now
belief
just
a ruse

it’s all
digital dollar
and shiny
shoes

and the corporate bluster
all we can
muster

sum
of all
value and
meaning

lowest common
denominator
turned
principle
of truth

SPHERE OF INFLUENCE

Tags

atom, Humanity, identity, meaning, poem, poetry, value

SPHERE OF
INFLUENCE

atom
is smaller
than
Astro
smaller
than Smartie
smaller
than
jelly bean
smaller
than Eminem
(the sweet and not
the human
rapper being)

being being different from bean
one sometimes gets
seduced by the rhyme
by the
assonance

nothing smaller than an atom
–no, not even
a molecule
and not my sphere
of influence

MONEY TREE

Tags

Capitalism, economics, poem, poem poetry political moral, poetry, satire, value, wealth

MONEY TREE

money
tree

there is no
money tree

need to
disabuse me
of this in
case it has
taken root
inside my head

when it was me
who took
to the supermarkets
to preach this
philosophy

hectoring the converted: Oh so
easy
such

a cheap
trick

no problem
inducing them
to believe
the money tree
(if well there
were one)

could afford
no leaves
to smoke
not a strip
of bark
to stew

just a thing that
you cannot prune or
put a lit on
cannot bonsai

will grow high
as giant’s beanstalk
will expand exponential

fast
as digital transaction
faster
than the eye can see

and Oh, our
little lives lived
under its massive shade
from
cliche of
cradle to the
grave

we white, black, brown
wanting
to eat your fruit, rise
like your timber
in your one
true alchemy shed
our diversity, turn
absolutely green

the sky thinning above us
as the trunk, the branches
thrust through
the atmosphere
lording
it
above the world
reducing the concept of
shared humanity
laundering
down
to lowest
common denominator
bad
reductio ad absurdum

in
which
bower

with which
under which
spreading boughs

we must
abide

short of the outrage of
axing the forest

finding fresh currency
for every
bleeding heart

STORM

Tags

death, meaning, philosophical, poem, poetry, value, writing

STORM

why if
life is
lesson

do you
rub the
blackboard
clean

the dust we
were
truth

we said

the entire classroom
there to learn
gathered
in this
storm

that we
might forget?

IF I SAY SO MYSELF

Tags

meaning, Mirror, poem, poetry, postmodern, poststructuralist, semiotics, value, writing

IF I SAY SO MYSELF

there’s pollution
in my poem
too deep to
remove
without damage
to the text

this, of course,
means it
fails the
acid test
of perfect mirror

fails to
perform
as any
kind of
mirror
at all

just is
what it is
thing mistaken,
conflicted, polluted

trying
and
failing

(so beautifully, if
I say so myself)

not to
be, like you
and like me,

anything so
truly and deeply
polluted at all

RIVER

Tags

meaning, poem, poetry, satire, value, Water

RIVER

river
moonlight
flowing to
reach the ocean

float in the waves
become a wave
don’t worry

can go to
the store get
you a
can of it