remember Ramonhow we laughed at the deliriumof the pokey seat in the laneafter the readings at La Mama a promise is a wading thingand we held a hand each when you made me writeall seven days to week a monththat stretch of gluten by a wonky lightthe way words fall to combine a separate secret … Continue reading slow the express

Damian has two deer heads. They roll around a little in the boot, but he makes the drive down to the only taxidermist still working. Bryce comes to the door after several knocks. He has a stubby in his right hand, his granddaughter in his left, and a roll your own expiring at the side … Continue reading Getting Stuffed in the Valley

CalfSHOCK cold rainfalling snort breathe can’t feelwhere what used to be hometongue licking pushing hard wobbling underneathstagger fall tumble shove awaystretching up mouth want to cling onground not sure if the dirt is bloodor smell green of sometimes inside now outblack whack of wing and thud of kickand noise harsh then soft and wet to … Continue reading If I was a new…

I know you dislike statisticsbut the missing variablewas only ever us and if I could playthe perfect instrumenttranscribe a rhapsody in volition to sax or cello or flutethen I would be closerto the reclaimed harmonics of words to soundsan arrangement of yearsin an ascension that winds itself says let’s fall by unused noteswithin the new … Continue reading 16 or 75, 46xY

They are laid out for this Sundaystations between lockdown datesand if an ear is pressed to them words singing out of lethargyrise out of loose leaf castings from waiting rooms across the citya fall of sound as another bearersignals to lounges kitchens hallways that awakening hope of releasein the chugging unopened language where skimmed pages … Continue reading Tsundoku (the condition of acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in one’s home without reading them)

From Uncharted Constellations Space Cat Press 2020

I am fifteen years awayfrom the age my father reachedstanding in the shadeof a forty year old apple tree, in an early autumn daywith still no sign of rainand ground that has crackedlike sore lips after oranges, for decades I’ve resistedthose crossed arms in an ageing poutbut it’s only fair to tell youthat I’ve messed … Continue reading Now I’m Sixty Two

a lizard so small on the broken vasedrinks and looks back motion lessthe unflappable virtue of a nodding irisall Van Gogh wheezy at the anglethe horse paddock bounteous with feedan abandoned rusty bike maintaining a postcherry blossom graffiti over the porchhow the noise of children swimming amplifiesthe clamorous life of aira neighbour’s dog being spottedwalks … Continue reading These things of hope

Like a windup toy it sidles the porchin an awkward jete,so black it’s purple as wet shiny aggregate.The voice older than memorya surviving ayr a timepiece of yo yosometimes stretched out walking the dog,or a sharpie up and downback into an unread palm.A mini Godzilla head side jerkthe beady summation of reflected pride,before the kamikaze … Continue reading The Raven’s Malaise

They told us cold milk was the blood of angelsit was during the Tokyo Olympics.Our knees froze together in the morningthis was good discipline for us,God knows there were people suffering.And last night I cuffed the moontried to pull it down into the lounge,a lever with a button dial an old typewriter key;the one pin … Continue reading Daylight Saving, Eastern Standard Time