Sunday 31 May 2015

Torn

Everything that I knew was a lie. Specifically, I've learned Natalie Imbruglia's 'Torn' was a cover. The song was originally done by Ednaswap.



On the grounds that you may have seen the mime before, here's the latest tribute to the 90s classic.


Sunday 24 May 2015

Ancient Hunting

Passed on like tigerskin or 
autographs, down through the family.

A stranger's sturdy
towel/nightdress,
Romanticised, stored
and recreated to present
arms of ancient, noble purpose.

Now: ordered lines machined and repeated. 
Folded by hand
like an ambassador's napkin. Photocopy as 
relic, collective karaoke.

Noble is difficult, like good, 
but old we can do, 
and fast.


Friday 22 May 2015

Knockers (Part 5)

My last set for a while. I've uncovered some on recent travels that I had previously only dreamt of.

Before pressing 'read more' - for full transparency - here's a list of the knockers I'd like to see someday: -

- wrecking ball to a miniature of the house
- patting hand on dog
- missile hitting the earth
- axe hitting door

Thursday 14 May 2015

Restoration, man

 
Inside every Ministry of Works 
classical facade is a self-service 
metropolitan Tesco; inside that, 
the local millennial college; inside that,
a lo-fi fro-yo hydration station;
inside that, an Airbnb rental suite;
and then, a swipecard-controlled
lift to a secret train
leading to an oligarch's 
mansion inside your pillow.

Tuesday 12 May 2015

Apathy

Apathy kills
me when
she rolls
her eyes -

I laugh,
she smirks,
I forget
what I said.

The paper
is wet,
everything
falls away in
a striptease
to the bath.

(Her mother’s greek,
her dad: a misogynist.
She can hold conversation
with just the words
pity and pithy. She
sleeps in cold water.)

Once out,
she returns
to flick through
channels and
papers. She
breathes in
time. Mine.

I ask
her where the
letter is. She asks
me for a number
and sets the table
for her trick.

She holds her
hand over the
candle and counts
until the light
goes out.

Three days later
I find the letter
in the laundry.
She’s always
doing this.

Thursday 7 May 2015

Landscape in portrait

























A mono print on wet paper with a bit of clickart on top.

Monday 4 May 2015

Millennials

'Why didn't you pick up the phone? Is it harder with your new hand?'
'I was practicing my lightsabering.'
'Do you mean lightsaber fighting?'
'I mean I was swishing my long laser blade'
'-dong laser blade'
'... around to practise using it. Yes, for fighting. What else do you do with a lightsaber?'
'I dunno, cut cheese?!'
'If I was using it to cut cheese I would have said that I was having cheese - the light saber and whether it was sliced or not would be unnecessary background detail.'
'Fine. So why didn't you pick up the phone?'
'You know that some things are more difficult for me since MY HAND WAS CUT OFF. I needed to be completely aware of my physicality, to tap into the Force to better myself as a combatant - I do not seek distractions. The prosthetic is very useful but -'
'Yeah but, why didn't you use the Hans Free?'
'Is that a joke? Did you make a joke about my hand being CUT OFF and our friend being FROZEN IN CARBONITE and taken from us by the powers of evil?!'
...
'I'm sorry to have made light of it, and I'm sorry for making you feel uncomfortable before - I know you like me but I like Hans. I've lost Hans too... Has anyone ever told you that you're hand-some when you're angry?'

[the bubbles in Leila's carbonated drink start to pop prematurely as if controlled by an unseen force set on making it go flat]