dogs create invisible fences out of scent
don't cross that rabbit proof fence buddy
we do it with tensed shoulders or inverted gaze
lest you discover what I'm afraid you'll see
Fishing
people throw out a fishing line
to try and connect to something else
maybe they bring it home and eat it
to take it in
for them it is a life line
it seems one part must die for another part to live
in endless succession
therefore do not be sad
O heart
the fire burns , the screen is not singed
the sea is salty, the screen does not rust
the lights comes up
everyone goes home
the projectionist leaves
the seats turn to dust
the cinema is empty
with no fire
or water
or screen
_______________
I love & respect
you for your large breasts
but don’t get me wrong
its not just your nurturing chest
I value your entire personage
your mouth and hands
your legs and bum
and all that lies therein
____________________
I wanted to go to a poet’s party
at Friends in Hand Hotel
and be a poet for a while
but my son wanted me to spend time with him
and be a father for a while
and I had a strong sense
if I went off to be a poet
I’d regret not being there for my son
and if I went off to be a father
I’d regret not being there for myself
I'm a father every day
but a poet only a few times a year)
so which path to take?
I took the paths of the botanical gardens
walking them with my son
and together we found the poetry
of surrendering to what is
________________________
(how I longed to be released for a while)
from my role as husband and father,
tho I am a man
of gardens more than pubs)
_______________
At the school soiree
the hearts of the parents soft and open as the sky
small people holding small violins
play their small notes
while dreams to big for the chests that contain them
rise like celebratory balloons
what can keep that small eternal flame in sight
as we close the car door and had back into he traffic?
__________________________what can keep that small eternal flame in sight
as we close the car door and had back into he traffic?
A youth
on the rocks
between Tamarama
and the sky
a slight figure
in a wet suit
with pink feet
doing a dance
imaginary electric guitar
arms gyrating
to the crashing of the waves
he hurls himself
into the deep channel
between two massive rocks
clambers up the slippery rock
his pink feet unaware of the sharp shells and
slippery slime
begins his dance again
people high up on the headland stare
some laugh
as if he were a performing seal
“he must be stoned” says one
“maybe he’s autistic” says another
the youth lies down on the lip of one rock
his feet dangling into the channel
allows a huge wave to wash over him
what will be his next move?
like me
he has extraordinarily good luck
as he dances his way
into my heart
________________
Memorabilia
The day you or I left
it was raining softly
I took someone’s 10 speed racing bike
into the drive
past the parked yellow datsun
past the side section of the garden
where red and starry eyed we smoked dagga
and had conversations with each other and the goldfish
you were there, and P, all enveloped
in the soft mist of inevitability
could it ever have been any other way?
Johannesburg, South Africa, 1981
everyone remembers a time and place
all different in their specificity, all the same in the receding hairline of inaccessible memory
it was the beginning of our decade of youthful struggle as we shot out of our second womb, Joburg's Jewish Northern suburbs
I was off to Israel
you around the Garden Route before 1st year BA with Dani and Simon Nkoli soon to be a treason trialist,
then the state of emergency and WITS project com and defiance, demonstrations, detention, gender-role confusion and your emerging vehicle of psychology
that would transport you across the next three decades
and P staying to UNISA or off to a yeshiva in the Gush
with questioning and torturous secretive creation and Betzalel and first gulf war, waiting for the missiles on an empty Jerusalem street with no gas mask
for me religion and secularism and trying to become an Israeli and trying to become a man in the idf
and the never ending search for guides and gurus strung together on a thread of repressed longing
as I tried to find an outline to hold my watery being
the rain drops fell on me with a soft and sweet finality
something was dying, something struggling to be born
we already held our lives pregnant in us
Joburg and Jerusalem
Cape Town and Berlin and Sydney
Joburg and Jerusalem
Cape Town and Berlin and Sydney
degrees and cul de sacs
joinings and partings
children and funerals, fleeting pain and fleeting pleasures
joinings and partings
children and funerals, fleeting pain and fleeting pleasures
and a deep abiding throbbing joy beneath the
IV treatments and uncertainty and therapy and root canal and prosperity and going away to come back
on the divine hamster wheel
how inscrutably mysterious that I could not see forward
what was coming down the track
but can look backward to see it was already there
like the mighty oak in the acorn on the mighty oak in the acorn
that hangs on the universe and contains it
_________________________
dagga - marijuana
yeshiva – theological seminary where Talmud is studied
Betzalel – Fine Arts Academy in Jerusalem
WITS – University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
projects com – projects committee – organised anti-apartheid demonstration during the 80s
UNISA – University of South Africa
Gush – Gush Etzion – a kibbutz that was established in 1935, its inhabitants massacred by the Arab Legion and Arab irregulars in 1948. New Israeli villages were established in the area after 1967
__________________
Guy and his dad went to play cricket
in the park just up the hill /road,
dad bowled two balls when from nowhere
a sheepdog snatched up the ball!
it ran off so fast, with that shiny new ball
and the owner ran after it too
an icy wind sprang up, they stood there waiting
as owners and dogs chased each other
the dog owner sheepishly brought back the ball
and dad bowled another few balls at Guy
I don't want to play, i want to go home
everything's ruined, howled Guy with the wind
that's not the way, when things don't
go your way, dad begain to explain,
but Guy wasn't listening there were
feelings inside, that he really just couldn't contain
"Its the worst day of my life" said Guy
I was so proud of that ball
I've never had such a new thing
dogs are the worst
nothing's going right at all"
the ball was much the same
(perhaps a small mark or two)
but Guy was broken, things would never be the same
he came home: shuttup he screamd at his brother
and tears gathered again in his eyes
_________________________
Money laundering as applied to miners/big mining company executives /purveyors of bottld water/ a rogues gallery of the captains of industry
______________
I warned you
but you didn't listen
I told you about global warming
and bottled plastic water
and cancer causing additives
and strange new viruses
from factory farms
but you just sailed blithly on
I warned you about the 4X4s
and your insatiable appetite for destraction
with your purse skein nets
and your take away food
and your baubles and trinkets
that ate up the world
but you wou;dn't listen so now
we must all pay the price
I warned you
to stop having babies
and the collapse of biodiversity
but you traded G-d's genius in
for a wide screen tv
and a bun with sesame seeds and potassium sorbate
____________
Finding my voice
They said once you find your voice you’ll be ok
and its fine to imitate and anyway
even your imitations are original
because everyone has been set ringing
with their own song
but years and years of trying to figure out what other people want to hear
and give them that
can make it really hard to hear
like a woman who weights 350kg
and has no idea if she’s hungry or not
and can’t taste anything she eats
or if she's unhappy
or perfectly fine.
_____________________
nothing will change
and everything will change
and the law of unintended consequences
will conquer all
_______________
This morning I had a telephonic conversation
with a rotund sex worker
who is doing her masters
in public health
and as she described her body
I stroked mine
then we parted amicably
with a promise from me
to make an appointment
I never kept
________________
apologies for the way things are
a pity on her and on me
______________
The twin tablets of the law:
the chromosone pairs that dictate
how the body will
bud, blossom and wilt
__________
Elegy for doomed chicken
I
Randwick Sunday Morning
earnest Chinese Christians
discussing salvation
over bibles and boxes
of factory farmed chicken
discussing salvation
over bibles and boxes
of factory farmed chicken
II
What anthem for debeaked chooks?
only the plastic burp
of the ketchup bottle
III
The sun is hot
the sky is blue
people on the beach
without a care, they
and the chickens
in the slaughter house
sing
free me, free me,
free me
yeah
_____________
I Am not my Story
The first betrayal was when I left formlessness
to enter the womb
and the second betrayal was when I left South Africa for Israel
and the third betrayal was when I left yeshiva for the army
and the fourth betrayal was when I left Israel and returned to South Africa
and the fifth betrayal was when I left South Africa to become an Australian citizen
and now I have betrayed my stories
one too many times
too believeany of them
____________________to enter the womb
and the second betrayal was when I left South Africa for Israel
and the third betrayal was when I left yeshiva for the army
and the fourth betrayal was when I left Israel and returned to South Africa
and the fifth betrayal was when I left South Africa to become an Australian citizen
and now I have betrayed my stories
one too many times
too believe
Today we are all charedim
going to jail so our children won't share
the same classroom
as the despised "frankim"
Today we are all charedim
protecting dead bones
by breaking living ones
of Jews who don't agree with us
Today we are all charedim
burning down bus stops
so the old folk forced to now wait in the rain
won't have their eyes scorched
by scantily clad adverts
Today we are all charedim
victims of our own
"special case" drama
justifying the means
with the end
_________
Today we are all Hamas
today we are all homophobes
today we all shout "slaughter the Jews"
today we are progressive
suicide bombers
today we stand as one man
over many woman
today we all chant slogans
today we all persecute the Bahai
today we all have more children than we can afford to
and make our poverty someone else's problem
today we are all Hamas
today we all blame Israel
today we all celebrate
rockets and mortars falling on frightened children in Sderot
today we say enough!
why must Hamas make do with makeshift weapons?
remove the blockade
so that they can use blow up Israelis
with big missiles stamped "made in Iran"
today we are all Hamas
today we throw our political opponents of roofs
and strap explosives to donkeys
today we kidnap soldiers
and don't allow the red cross to see them for four years
or until we return their decomposing remains in a coffin
today we promise
to cleanse Palestine
of Jews and Jew lovers ( a few Christians may stay
as long as they see things our way)
for today we are all Hamas
Why I don't live anywhere
the internal combustion heart
Freeing G-d from religion is a noble task
I can do without the traffic jams
I can do without the reality shows
I can do without the carcinogens and trans fatty acids
I can do without the commodification of water and education
I can do without the manufactured to demand over produced music
I can do without cyber bullying and alco pops
I can do without infomercials and teleevangelists
I can do without prozac, designer drugs and chemical hapiness
I can do without factory farms and toxic sludge
I can do without growth hormones and military experiments on baboons
I can do without oil coated seabirds and child obesity
"the end of civilization as we know it..."
good
____________________
90% of "the news" is voyeurism
and shopping malls are the abbatoirs of squandered resources
it can't go on like this
and it won't
now what must I let go of
to be with things the way they are?
_____________________
When you watch a man drowning
you ask yourself
"why doesn't he swim"
When you watch a man drowning
you ask yourself
"why don't I jump in"
as he sinks beneath the waves
is finally lost
and you go home
____________________
Wake up wake up
from your cities of excess
wake up wake up
from what you should have done
wake up wake up
from this dream of wealth
wake up wake up
from your judgements and assumptions
wake up wake up
with some mental floss
wake up wake up
with a belly laugh
_________________
I have looked for G-d
in land fill sites
and desecrated graveyards
in baby seal clubbings
and amputee's limbs
I have looked for G-d
in acts of courage
sacrifice, service
in moments of truth
when I stopped hiding
and shared the cobwebbed secrets of my heart
in body parts
on a Tel Aviv street
________________
Tantra tankas
____________
A family of five
while rock fishing drowned
those with fins and scales extended condolences
but amongst themselves
expressed relief
_____________
I'd never met, seen or even heard of
the 200 species the headline says are disappearing
but now that I know about them
I'm terribly worried
about the loss
_____________________
In Gan Eden the tzaddikim
in their groovy beards
are rocking the kasbah
and when the young wives throw their sheitels through hoops
no one cares a flying fuck
chasidim surf
between the planets on skateboards,
peyyos streaming like comets
everything comes easily
and happens by itself
no one strives to fix the parts
because the whole is so self evident
even the leviatan need no longer fear
the mighty appetite of the righteous,
or Japanese and Norwegian whaling ships
because the ohr ayn sof, the light of Yah
gives food and energy
freely and forever
______________________
"Judaism teaches
"Islam preaches
"Christianity teaches...
these words the clear slime trail
of demagogues at work
clerics who speak with forked tongue
Judaism says whatever you want it to
and there are as many Christianities as Christians
some honest, some unconscious
the same is true of all collectives
in all times
so when I speak
I speak for my
Self
____________________________
I want to be a minor
major poet
or a major
minor poet
(not sharp or flat but true)
and never have to work again
__________________________
(Tanka??)
Bothered somewhat that whatever I write
the opposite's equally true
(and this I somehow hold as my sin)
I have perjured myself
before I begin
___________________
Looking for a job
sending off CVs into the void
'thanks very much we'll keep you on file'
dividing the day to keep myself busy
a walk to the post box
another inconclusive meeting
structure, the device
to stave off terror
____________________________
Rushing to the toilet
Jesus hold on
guts turning don't let it out
since earliest bodyhood
trained to clutch, tense, avoid the shame
of public excretion
hobble into a cubicle
long explosive defecation of relief
my dignity intact
my humaness hidden
_____________________
"If you don't get that hole seen to the tooth may rot
if you don't get that rot seen to you may get an abscess in your gum
if you don't get that gum seen to you may loose your mouth
if you loose your mouth you won't be able to eat
If you can't eat you may eventually loose your body
If you loose your body you won't be able to a have sex
or drink a cappuccino
or take out life insurance
or avoid going to dangerous places
or get some kind of degenerative disease
so should you worry about that filling"
___________________
In spring a young man's thoughts turn to sex
(and in summer
autumn
winter)
______________
A Buddhist
who wishes to fish
must do so secretly
the way the minister of the environment
must go off to a brothel
secretly
making sure they are not seen
so that they will not give license
to the practice
_______________________________
My dad who always refused to use a calculator
preferring to exercise his brain
now has Alzheimers
_________________
I forgive myself
for doing the best I can
_____________________
Cast out from the dark womb of sleep
people seek nurturance in coffee
______________________________
"Australia is the greatest country in the world
and Australian Moslems are the best baby killing terrorists in the world
and Australian Jews are the best money-grabbing Heeb kikes in the world
and Australian abos are the best wogs in the world
and Australian prejudice is the best prejudice in the world"
______________________________
What about resentment
what about blame
what part of G?d are these?
What about landfill
what about Rwanda
what part of G?d are these
what about pigs in sowing crates
in toxic factory farms
what about vandalised Jewish gravestones
and shops
what part of G?d are these
what about dog fighting
what about child slaves
what part of G?d are these?
___________________________
Some people make bombs
and some people make books
that explode in the heart
____________
In meditation
we chant
"I am existence-consciousness - bliss"
but someone has unconsciously
left the aircon on full blast
so I am chanting and shocheling
backwards and forwards
faster and faster
to try and keep the body
we have disavowed
as "not mine and not me"
warm
______________
Prayer
a week into my wife's trip
its like I never got married
never had children
and I quickly become deranged by something -
let us call it loneliness, disconnection
the building is even more unusually quiet
than usual
a carpeted and well maintained mausoleum
am I the only one alive?
no
the cockroaches in the kitchen
the earthworms on the balcony
and our spinifex mice in the basement
are still there when I visit them
so there is some sort of object permanence
but I crave human company
anything that has a body, and can speak
to try and penetrate the desperate silence
I feebly leave messages, send sms's
write emails
the messages go unresponded to,
the emails vanish into the cyber-ether
again the heavy silence returns
they're shooting a movie in the park downstairs
I chat with the producer to show I'm in the know
I could always bandy terms around
but really I've nothing to say to anyone
everyone else is as dull as me, usually duller
programmed robots swapping programmed thoughts
I can tell what they're going to say before they've said it
(only my response to some women still dances and flickers,
perhaps that will be the last to go)
I turn down awkward deathly barren dinner invites
knowing from experience loneliness in a crowd is much worse
but then am left alone
with my own heard- 'em-a-1000 times thoughts
I look at pornography
like a fish struggling on a hook
watch tv and stuff my face
go for a swim in the ocean but it is not the cold water that leaves me numb
I smile at a plain woman on the beach
soon I may forget how to speak altogether
I drive around Sydney for hours looking for an earthly connection
but cannot bring myself to pay for it, convinced even in the acting out
my Beloved will still elude me
'til the body is weary, the petrol tank empty
and some kind of acceptance of my fate arises
if I cannot connect with anything else
I will connect with my self, perhaps even with my
Self
and let me hear somebody say:
amayn______________
Because we don't allow ecstasy
we have alcohol
because we don't allow sensuality
we have pornography
because we don't allow laughter for no reason
we have aggression and fermented rage
because we don't allow dizziness and not knowing
we have brittleness and paralysis
________________
When you feel a life
tugging at the end of your fishing rod
it and you are connected
is it a life line
but for who?
shabat shalom, shavua shalom
shabbos goy, shabbos Jew
if there is One
then there can't be two
__________
On Pesach we drink lemon lime and bitters
because that's what they served
in the fleshpots of Egypt
________
12th Nissan
I am standing in King's Cross
surrounded by pubs & clubs
food scraps and chatter
when I look up and see
the moon
is almost full. I'll be leaving Egypt
soon.
________________________
32 poems for Porat's heart
When Porat said
"I need 32 poems on the heart"
my heart sank
pig heart valve
big heart valve
cow heart valve
now heart valve
avodah shebalev
why is it called a purple heart when the owner's bled red?
poem by Yehuda Amichai which I have paraphrased into my own version:
inside my heart is a museum
and inside that museum is a synagogue from my youth which no longer exists
and inside that synagogue is me
and inside me is a heart
____________
Riddle me riddle me what am I?
music helps it soar
addiction makes it sore
some folk wear it on their sleeve
others wait for their guests to leave
before they'll whoop or quietly grieve
____________
in spring it sees the lambs
in winter the abbatoir
in winter it sees the dormant seed
in spring those born to suffer
_____________
when I say you stole it
I mean I'm using you
to avoid mine
___________
I've been terribly afraid
that mine is a coward's
_______________
so G?d hardened his heart
with cholesterol, desire
and fear
________________
oh my traiterouso i have one
always ready to take offence
but less concerned about giving it
__________________
"A new heart also will I give you,
and a new spirit will I put within you,
and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you an heart of flesh."—Ezekiel 36:26.
But the peach refused saying:
taking my stony one
is like giving me a vasectomy
But the peach refused saying:
take away my currant (sic!) one
and you take away my children______________
a new heart!
but you can't, not like tires
even if the old one's well worn
_________________
do people who wear it on their sleeve
find it gets worn
like a tire?
and do people who keep it on the inside
like an inner tube
save it from thorns and broken glass?
_________
Heart-less
"from now on
I will not have one"
lasted for about ten minutes
______________Shifchi kemayim libeych
nochach penei Hashem
pour out your heart
like water
in the presence
of the outer innerness
of the ineffable unknowable
the ineffable unknowable
is apparently heartless
because it does not care to preserve
what we are not
the heart is a stone
the heart is water
the heart is air
the heart is fire
Riddle me riddle me what am I no 2
I can be on fire
I can be stone
I can be air
I can be water
Home is where I am
alone
(Home is where the heart is)
_________
You can pour me like water
I can lust for your daughter
or grieve for the slaughter
_____________
open closed open
contraction expansion contraction
a non-percussive beat
________
his heart sank
and was never seen again
________
the first time I saw you
was on the ultrasound
and the last time was when
they put you in the ground
_________
why you
why not the kidneys
or the spleen
why not the testicles
or the brain
how did you get
this sorrowful joy
No 26
and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you an heart of flesh."—Ezekiel 36:26.
But the peach refused saying:
Pros and Cons
one made of earth grows mushrooms and mould
one made of fire burns out and grows coldone made of flesh can be easily bentOne made of stone is still and contentone made of words will not beat in the chest
one made of thoughts will never know rest
don't leave it to roam, or it may not come home
but don't hug it too tight, or it may just take flight
why is it most commonly compared
to a fist?
No 28
a heart of flesh is permeable and elastic
and has greater longevity than one made of plastic
but a plastic one is light, clean and dry
even if it won't biodegrade when you die
No 29a heart of flesh is permeable and elastic
and has greater longevity than one made of plasticbut plastic increases shelf life, is clean and dry
and is not harmed by moisture, for eg when you cry
"Libi
uvesaari
yeranenu le El Chai"
"my heart and flesh
will sing to the living G?d"
so G?d hardened it
with desire, fear
and cholesterol
and
one of flesh is permeable and elastic
and has greater longevity than one made of plastic
but plastic's convenient, keeps things clean and dry
????? ( see email)
_________
ashes to ashes
dust to dust
heart to heart
metal to rust________
heart to heart
metal to rust
ashes to ashes
dust to dust
___________
twenty years ago we lay heart to heart
but that was then, and now we're apart
_____
as heartless as a newsreader's smile
________
heart to heart
rubber to street
rust to metal
maggots to meat
_____
The Haj of the monarch butterfly
is also an affair of the heart
____________________________
earthworms have seven hearts
to help them be long
___________________________________
they call me a mexican beaded lizard
i wrestle for hours and hours
i don't know why
(just as jacob did not know why he wrestled with His Self and called it G?d)
if i win
i mate before i die
______________________________
the worst advice I ever heard:
velo taturu acharei levaveichem
_______________________
one made of earth grows mushrooms and mould
one made of fire burns out and grows cold
one made of flesh can become bent
but one made of stone is still and content
one made of air can be filled with despair
one made of rope may provide some false hope
one made of water will lead us to slaughter
but one made of striated muscle fibre will thrive
so the abbatoir worker said "I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll cut your heart out"
the one little piggy whose heart was made of ham didn't know what to do, and indeed , she lost her heart
the second little piggy, whose heart was made of clay, begged for mercy; if there is any compassion in your heart do not kill me, but the blockman took the heart and made a cooking pot from the cla
the third little piggy had a heart made of reinforced lightweight carbon fibre that was bolted to the floor of her abdominal cavity, and she was allowed to keep it
if you eat the heart of a lion it will give you courage
if you eat the heart of a kangeroo it will give you boxing ability
if you eat the heart of a cockroach it will give you implacability
if you eat an artichoke heart it will give you pleasure
if you eat the heart of an elephant it will improve your memory
if you eat the heart of a sloth you will feel more relaxed
if you eat the heart of a portugues man of war you will feel buoyant
if you eat the heart of a mouse you will feel small
if you eat the heart of a pig it will give you compassion
if you eat the heart of a human it will give you dhirrea
A Skype Poem by CP and ISCP:my late dad used to say one doesn't have to be a rat in the race
IS: he was right, zichrono livracha - may his memory bring blessing
CP: sigh...
CP: going to bed
IS: yes
CP: being thursday night
IS: leyl menucha - a restful night
CP: good to connect
IS: look after yourselves and well done
CP:likewise good work surviving - no small feat
IS: What's wrong with my feet? Too small for you?
CP: (dance)
IS: Hey??
CP: just the rythm
IS: Love
CP: [beating heart icon]
IS: yebo
________________
The librarian
whose eggs sandwich was eaten
has resigned
(a poem by Vivien Suttner)
___________________
The friends of Palestine
are outraged by the abuse of Palestinian rights
but don't care as much about the rights of Darfurians
or the Congolese
or child slaves in Saudi Arabia
or the traffic in women and children
and even less about the Tibetans
or Bahai in Iran
or the Tribals in India
because none of these causes
allow you to take
a dig at the Jews.
________________
I am walking with my son
to the heads of Sydney harbour
on shabat, shabbos, the sabbath, saturday
and I am trying to teach him
mizmor ledavid
a song of David
Ad-nai Ro'ee
the Lord is my shepard
so I sing him the words in Hebrew
not in the bastard English
which turns Tehillim
and the sweet singer of Israel
into an Anglo- Saxon colony
as we walk amongst coastal scrub
and wild grass
binot deshe
in green vistas
yarbitzeini
The Source will let me rest
al mei menuchot yenahaleyni
on still waters It will lead me
my son does not much understand
the unfamiliar syllables
but dutifully chimes in where he can
and together we scatter the alephs and tafs to the clear twilight air
in the land of the Garrigal people
and those who came after.
Always I am looking for acceptance
so my identities
and the layers of my being
like the layers of these cliffs
can be exposed to sea and sky
without being hidden or devalued
if I am to be at home
surely I must be as I am
more than the Bangladeshi or Thai cashiers at Coles
forced into Father Christmas hats and T Shirts
and wishing me merry christmas
as if neither they or I
had a past or tradition worth honouring
just because we have come to Australia
the new kids on the block
silenced perhaps
by the lurking fear of being different, disadvantaged
in an assertive and complacent majority culture
which can cope with difference in restaurants
but not in its heart
so if my home is to be a bayit...
For a few seconds I swell up with purpose
an emissary
of something ancient and new
sowing the resurrected syllables
of the Hebrew language
amongst these cliffs and waves
so that now their story too
will be part of this landscape
so that now my story too
can be part of this landscape
OR
For a few seconds I swell up with purpose
I am an emissary
of something ancient and new
sowing the resurrected syllables
of the Hebrew language
amongst these cliffs and waves
(like a hippo marking its territory)
so that now their story
and mine
which are inextricably mixed
will be part of this landscape
too___________
Tehillim = the Hebrew name of the
"Book of Psalms"
______________
Yeah...right
Doctors against illness
dentists against tooth decay
cuckoos against nest squatting
journalists against bad news
lions against carnivorism
psychologists and psychiatrists against mental illness
poets for egolessness
Thoughts are like plants
they all have seeds
and bear fruit of one sort or another
this shouldn't be happening
its not fair
I've got no backbone
I was born to loose
have sad heavy fruit
victim powerless fruit
This is happening
what is this
now and now and now
Even a poet
a narcissistic starved of self esteem fragile attention seeking
poet
who is supposedly above all these
has to be very strategic
about how to get their pearls of wisdom noticed
man their poetic stall
amongst all the others
and be calculating and business like
about their wordy merchandise
work the networks
while pretending
they're above all these
If only we had soft cities
the street's lined with women's breasts
buildings looking at us with the reassuring gaze of fatherly men
and a fruit tree or park bench never far away
____________________
when I judge you as harsh or unkind
I am being harsh and unkind
when I judge you as petty and mean
I am being petty and mean
when I can't get what I want from you
its because I'm not wanting what I get
from me
_______________
If you are a paedophile
or have been labelled one
your parts out of alignment
and stunted
not having successfully buried or channeled
what the others have
then when they catch you
or caption you
they will grind you
smash you bash you
rape you
knock your teeth out
pursue you
(wife beaters, murderes, drug dealers, pimps, dishonest in business, tax evader everyday criminals...)
all holier than you
from place to place
drive you out
suffering pursuing suffering
in a senseless circle
the victimiser becomes the victim
and nothing is healed
________________
Betwen the ages of 13 and 24
it seemed a woman's body was impossibly distant
mysterious and fascinating
infinitely richer and more alive
than the plains of my own sterile humdrum being
even though a few short years before
I had spent my first 18 months on my mother's breast
but now { insert lines from "what little boys are made from"]
had made me a stranger
looking at a lit window
from the lonely dark
hoping to catch a glimpse
of pink and red
hills and vallies
now I look back on that brief interlude
with the blunted greyness of experience and knowledge
having mislaid the capacity to feel that longing and wonder
and wonder: how could those bodies have seemed so foreign
when from them and to them I shot like an arrow
Poem Cycle: Collages
Call centre
Self-esteem (see fragments)
"Progressives"
Parliament
In the name of
ordinary working Australians I ask the honorable member
to take his head out of his but
and show some balls
The post-facto blame game
You should have
You must
You didn't
You need to
its your fault
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