How may I be of excellent service to you today?

 Scene in a restaurant:

Customer: waiter....waiter.

His friend: what do you want?

Customer: I just want them to bring us some water while we're waiting. Waiter. WAITER.

(eventually his gesticulating catches the attention of a waiter who comes over)

Waiter: what can I get you?

Customer: we've already ordered, but it seems to be taking a long time. can we get some water for the table please?

Waiter: Of course. would you like iced water or room temperature?

Customer: room temperature is fine.

Waiter. Room temperature it is. Two glasses or would you like me to bring a jug as well?

Customer: A jug would be good, especially if you're going to keep us waiting a long time for our food.

Waiter: (laboriously making notes on phone) jug....two glasses....room temperature...right. Would you like that water fizzy or plain?

Customer: is there an additional charge for fizzy?

Waiter: No sir, it's all on the house

Customer. Fizzy then. Can you bring it now...am starting to get thirsty from all these qiuestions.

Waiter: Certainly. Would you like your bubbles to be carbon dioxide or nitrous oxide? We have a machine that can do either...

Customer: However it comes. just bring some water.

Waiter: Would you like your water served in glasses or in this new line of biodgradable cups we're trying out?

Customer: I don't care!

Waiter: Please choose an option.

Customer. Glasses!

Waiter (laboriously records notes on phone). I'll be back very soon with your water.

Waiiter goes. Customer [plays angrily with his cutlery, waiting for the food, or the water, to appear. Eventually it does. Waiter puts down a jug of sparkling water with a slice of lemon in itm, and two cut crystal glasses.

Customer: At last.

The waiter hovers nearby as customer 2 pours customer 1 a glass of water, and then one for himself. they both drink.

Waiter: (stepping back close to the table) how is your water gentleman?

Customer 2; Its fine. its water.

Waiter: temperature ok?

Customer 1: yes, can you go and see where our order is

Waiter: certainly but may I ( he removes a tablet from a pocket in his apron) ask you just to give us some feedback and do a very quick customer satisfaction survey regarding your water experience with us?

Customer 1: No, I don't want to do any surveys. I came here to eat, not to look at screens. And I haven't had a "water experience'. i asked for water. you brought it. I've had a few sips and hope to have more while you find out where the food we ordered 30 minutes ago is.

Waiter: I'm sorry sir, I can't proceed to the next course until you take the survey. Its just one of the little ways we strive to improve our service and enhance customer satisfaction.

Customer 1: but you are creating a very dissatisfied customer here, that's my feedback!

Waiter: I'm sorry its restaurant policy, i don't make the rules. It's only take a minute (thrusts tablet at customer 1, customer 2 takes it)

Customer 2: I'll do it, just so we can get our food and get out of here. (He scrolls through, touching screen to answer multiple questions and give star ratings for multiple metriics regarding their 'water experience. Finishes, hands back to waiter.) There

Waiter: (takes tablet, looks at it, scrolls down) Do you mind me asking, sir, why you've only rated us 1 for service?

Customer 1 This is ridiculous, call the manager.

Waiter: i can do that for you, but first you need to fill in a complaint form ( scrolls and gestures on tablet), I'll just get it up for you... oh, sorry I have to get it off our intranet and I don't have the password on this one, I'll be back soon.

The waiter disappears.

Like

Comment

Share

Invisible Eyes

 Invisibilise

Invisibilise

decades of trauma

plo massacres of school children

Israeli athletes castrated

by Black September

invisibilise

the psychic wounds

the open sores, a synecdochal sample: 1979

4 year old Einat Haran, skull smashed in by samir kuntar, who murders her father Danny Haran,

baby sister Yael Haran suffocates to death while terrified mother tries to keep her from crying and

revealing their hiding place.

upshot? upon release from Israeli prison in prisoner exchange kuntar awarded Syria's highest medal

and honoured by Iranian President mahmoud ahmadinejad

invisibilise the successful

torpedoing of the Oslo accords by

wave after wave

of hamas suicide bombings

blowing up teenagers at a

dischoteque

leaving dancers armless and legless

or pensioners at a pesach seder

hands trembling a little

as they navigate

spoon to mouth and then trembling no more

bits of flesh in the chandeliers

invisibilise

twisted buses, twisted bus stops

charred bodies, only dna

may establish who they were

as they headed to market

to buy tomatoes and cucumbers

invisibilise the stabbings

teenagers taken to caves

their hands bound, bodies punctured

with knife wounds

invisibilise

bombs backed with rusty nails

and bolts to tear flesh apart

invisibilise 19 year old

Ori Ansbacher

raped and murdered while walking home

"the Zionist bitch deserved it, she had the temerity

to live in the land of her ancestors"

later the grove planted in her memory destroyed by Palestinian vandals.

invisibilise the psychological torture, the television threats
to the descendants and remnants of a genocide

"we'll destroy you just as you were destroyed 75

years ago"

invisibilise the relentless cyber attacks

the gross charicatures, the demonisation, the dehumanisation

invisibilise the

pile on

by trade unions, professional associations, teachers, academics, artists, journalists, all suddenly and

myopically focussed on their shadow aspects of self projected onto Israel. Safe. easy. Convenient.

How many Israel lovers you gonna rub shoulders with at work or in your book club?

invisibilise the war in Sudan

8.5 million on brink of starvation

and Yemen, Xianjing, Tibet, Myanmar

no poems for them

no self righteous indignation

no resolutions in council

no marches in the street

invisibilise the ecocide

the daily missiles made in Iran

setting zionist planted forests ablaze and driving

terrified jackals and hedgehogs and lizards who manage to escape the flames towards the illusion of

safety

the fruit

rotting on the trees

farmers unable to attend to their crops

invisibile the kidnapped,

the raped and then murdered

a red haired baby and toddler bother, whole family

snatched out of their home

whereabouts unknown

corpses of murdered Israelis left to rot

in subterranean tunnels

invisibilise

Judih Weinstein Haggai, seventy years old

an English teacher, poet, peace activist who worked with children with special needs. Used

meditation and mindfulness techniques to treat children suffering from anxiety caused by years of

rocket fire that have plagued residents of the Gaza border area. murdered with her 72 year old

husband Gadi Haggai on October 7,

along with Thai workers, Beduin,

Russian, French, US, UK, Ukranian nationals

invisibilise

the high on Captagon crazed Islamists

shoving machine gun barrels up the bloody vaginas

of the women they've just gang raped

or towing dissidents roped behind motorbikes

around the streets of gaza

throwing homosexuals and political rivals off

rooftops, enforcing a terrible homogenity and

preaching maediaval blood libels

and then

weave some kind of fairy tale that this

regressive barbarism

equals

"the resistance"

close one eye

so you only see gaza

not the other side of the border

so you don't see the North of Israel

depopulated by more missiles than the blitz

150 000 more

pointing at you

close one eye

so you only see the snippet

not the before or after

close both eyes

so you don't see yourself

staring back at you in the mirror

preaching and sanctimoniously stealing

your cheap and easy rectitude

one thing I know for sure

if you sat where Israelis sat

fucker

you'd be doing a whole lot

worse than them

Politically correct ad for educating around informed consent

VO "Get the facts...do you know when consent has been given?

VISUALS all kinds of couples for inclusivity - gay couples,  a person in a wheelchair with a partner who has both breasts and a penis, multi ethnic lesbian couples, a pair of wrinkled and naked 80 year olds embracing as one balances themselves with a walking stick, 

CUT TO hetrosexual younger couple are having at it, making the beast with two backs, the female urges the man on, yes yes yes, he is pumping away, intense passion, 

Her: yes yes yes darling, fuck me....

he groans she moans, she groans , he moans....

Him: oohh I'm about to ...

Her: STOP, STOP, I withdraw consent. 

Him: I'm coming oooh.....sorry, sorry too late

Her: you bastard , you raped me.

Freeze frame of this scene; big red graphic over it ...

Consent has not been given! this is stautory rape! 

Naked man is taken away in handcuffs cupping his penis as best he can

Notes towards poems 5784 -5

FB 12 Oct

People in Australia

sipping cappucinos

in outdoor cafes

are demanding that

people in Israel

in bombshelters

or lying on roads

hands covering their heads

as explosions and shrapnel

fill the sky

explain what they are doing

to protect the lives

of the people raining missiles down

upon them

_____________________________

FB Oct 10 24

As the light was fading

looking at the bay

and the big jet liners

coming into land

I stood there

saying

"please Hashem

please Hashem"

and I did not even know

what I was asking for

______________________

fb Oct 10

funeral costs:
once in a lifetime expenses

_____________________

FB Oct 7 2024

I'm making my

new space

ordered and functional

and comfortable

and

comforting

assembling Ikea

furniture

hanging up pictures

potting plants

feathering my nest

for myself and any guests

pouring my heart into it

to make it home

and the thought pops up

what if I'd been doing this

for many years

and someone came

into my safe space

my inner sanctum

and tried to undo my care

and violate, in every way,

my tender love?

October 7 2023

___________________

fb Oct 1

techiyat hamaytim (revival of the dead)

after the arid

shabbat morning

service

at last

the brocha

every one eating

and talking

FB Sept 29 24

Sunday evening

7:35 pm

bunnings or coles or woolworths

even the couples

walking down the aisle

look lonely

__________________

Sept 28

I drove
into the night
into loneliness
into its
living
pulsing
blazing
heart

_____________

Invisibilise

Invisibilise
Invisible
Eyes

invisibilise decades of trauma
plo massacres of school children
Israeli athletes castrated
by Black September
Invisibilise the psychic wounds
the open woundings, a synechdocal sample: 1979
4 year old Einat Haran, skull smashed in by samir kuntar, who murders her father Danny Haran, baby sister Yael Haran suffocates to death while terrified mother tries to keep her from crying and revealing their hiding place.
upshot? upon release from Israeli prison in prisoner exchange kuntar awarded Syria's highest medal and honoured by Iranian President mahmoud ahmadinejad,

invisibilise the successful
torpedoing of the Oslo accords by
wave after wave
of hamas suicide bombings
blowing up teenagers at a
dischoteque
leaving dancers armless and legless
or pensioners at a pesach seder
hands trembling a little
as they navigate
spoon to mouth and then trembling no more
bits of flesh in the chandeliers

invisibilise
twisted buses, twisted busstops
charred bodies, only dna
may establish who they were
as they headed to market
to buy tomatoes and cucumbers

invisibilise the stabbings
teenagers taken to caves
their hands bound, bodies punctured
with knife wounds

invisibilise
bombs backed with rusty nails
and bolts to tear flesh apart

invisibilise 19 year old
Ori Ansbacher
raped and murdered while walking home
"the Zionist bitch deserved it, she had the temerity
to live in the land of her ancestors"
later the grove planted in her memory destroyed by Palestinian vandals.

invisibilise the psychological torture, the television threats
"we'll destroy you just as you were destroyed 75
years ago",
invisibilise the relentless cyber attacks
the gross charicatures, the demonisation, the dehumanisation

invisibilise the
pile on
by trade unions, professional associations, teachers, academics, artists, journalists, all suddenly and myopically focussed on their shadow aspects of self projected onto Israel. Safe. easy. Convenient. How many Israel lovers you gonna rub shoulders with at work or in your book club?

invisibilise the war in Sudan
8.5 million on brink of starvation
and Yemen, Xianjing, Tibet, Myanmar
no poems for them
no self righteous indignation
no resolutions in council
no marches in the street

invisibilise the ecocide
the daily missiles made in Iran
setting zionist planted forests ablaze and driving
terrified jackals and hedgehogs and lizards who manage to escape the flames towards the illusion of safety
the fruit
rotting on the trees
farmers unable to attend to their crops

invisibile the kidnapped,
the raped and then murdered
a red haired baby and toddler bother, whole family
snatched out of their home
whereabouts unknown

Invisibilise
Judih Weinstein Haggai, seventy years old
an English teacher, poet, peace activist who worked with children with special needs. Used meditation and mindfulness techniques to treat children suffering from anxiety caused by years of rocket fire that have plagued residents of the Gaza border area. murdered with her 72 year ol husband Gadi Haggai on October 7,
along with Thai workers, Beduin, Russian, French, US, UK, Ukranian
nationals,
corpses of murdered Israelis left to rot
in subterranean tunnels

invisibilise
the high on Captagon crazed Islamists
shoving machine gun barrels up the bloody vaginas
of the women they've just gang raped
or towing dissidents roped behind motorbikes
around the streets of gaza
throwing homosexuals and political rivals off
rooftops, enforcing a terrible homogenity and
preaching maediaval blood libels
and then
weave some kind of fairy tale that this
regressive barbarism
equals
"the resistance"

close one eye
so you only see gaza
not the other side of the border
so you don't see the North of Israel
depopulated by more missiles than the blitz
150 000 more
pointing at you

close one eye
so you only see the snippet
not the before or after

close both eyes
so you don't see yourself
staring back at you in the mirror
preaching and sanctimoniously stealing
your cheap and easy rectitude

one thing I know for sure
if you sat where Israelis sat
fucker
you'd be doing a whole lot
worse than them

From FB July 17 24

I drifted

helplessly

between

stars

in the inky

blackness

of interstellar

space

kicking

and pumping

furiously

with legs

and arms

to draw closer

to one of those

distant lights

but no matter

the effort, I

seemed to remain

dark years

away.

exhausted

I stopped

and floated

in the

void

FB 20 August

Glad Tidings

The first cockroach

of spring

welcome brother

(or is it sister?)

16 Aug FB

when getting naked

the last garments

we remove

are

words

like

body

mind

_______________

Glimmers

being

emerged from

the sea

and when the time 

was right

returned

____________

ה נתן

ה לקח

יהי ה מבורך מעתה ועד עולם 

The Omnipresent has given

The Omnipresent has taken

beyond space and time 

The Omnipresent is beautiful

_______

Love

washed her 

up on the shore

and when the tide receded

took her back

____________'

FB August 14

when people ask me
what I do
I say
I am a juggler

___________

FB August 8

I was unemployed

but then I went to a dog park

and a kelpie hired me

as his ball thrower

FB August 7

בהמתנה

בין הלידה

והמוות

יש רגעי חסד

ורגעי אושר

ולחיים אין הפכים

between

birth and death

moments of kindness

moments of joy

and Life

which has no opposite

-----------

in the meantime

while looking for

my anchor

my kehilah

my sanga

I anchor others

________________________________

FB 4 August

In a relationship
with the clouds
the grass
my breath

__________________________________

July 31

Falling awake

I dozed off 
to the lecture

on enlightenment

________________________________

FB July 28

a quiet light
shines just as bright

__________

July 17 2024

Just to hear a voice she spoke

________________________

to kiss

innocence

to embrace

what is ageless

undiscovered always fresh

light as a giggle

awkward

graceful

like a newborn foal (FB July 13 2024)

______________

The way consumerism

grinds you down

with its special character

and one Capital

passwords

with its

"laziness penalty"

insurance premium increases premiocre products

with its debit orders

that drain,

while you sleep,

your bank account

with its

meaningless choices

inadequacy advertising

and sticky web

of "buy now pay later"

that waters addiction

and lays you down

on astroturf

with its trailing commissions

and hungry functionaries

power dressed

to hide transaction fees

with its scripted call centres

permanently experiencing

higher than usual

call volumes

The way consumerism

can wear you down

with its facsimile of service

its worship of convenience

its pretence of consultation

with its funnelling customers

and marketing metrics

and mountains of junk

just beyond the back door

with its spiralling

complexity

and tales told by idiots

full of sound and fury

signifying nothing

Nisargadatta I Am That

We begin with

and they all lived happily ever after 

and then slowly dial it back

to include 

mom dead at 53

divorce

non viable piglets bashed into concrete floor (cheapest)

degenerative diseases

random acts of cruelty and seemingly 

senseless acts of destruction

trajectory into addiction and self-harm

distorted thinking, 

pregnant couple slain by teenage driver

double anal penetration for your voyeuristic pleasure

and we want to go back

to Adam and Chavah 

and the lion and the lamb

naked and unashamed 

in the garden of innocence

cogniscent that 

The Self cares nothing 

for name and form,

underneath this shadowy horror play,

I yearn to see the holiness and the wholeness

the kindness that is mighty and invincible

the clarity and charity that dissolves madness

the rock steady reality beyond, behind, between, inside, 

not indifferent to, but untouched by

both nightmares and sweet dreams

_____________

Every day

for four years

I've been driving home

past the same trees

quietly living their lives

without ever considering their 

story:

how they came to be there

how they spend their time

are they pleased

that bird chose them

who else have they 

witnessed

come and go?

_________

when I tell myself

my dog is bored

as she lies and patiently waits 

I tend to feel guilty

but when I tell myself she's in dog samadhi - happy just to be, and being this thought comforts me

____________________

Samadhi - In yoga regarded as a state in which union with the divine is realised (before or at death).

 ______________________

I am an ageing

ageless

Lord Krishna

cavorting with the gopis

they hug me

embrace me,

see me as I am

(FB July 15 2024)

________________________________________

Let me tell you this
my child
the body will
not survive
and yet
all is well
_______

the more isolation
the more addiction
the more addiction
the more isolation
'til something
gives

(FB July 14 2024)

__________________________________

am in high

demand

on dating apps

with 80 year old

great grandmothers

and hungry

gay men

(FB July 14 or 15 2024)

_______________________________________

A poem for sleepless knights

Sleepless knights 

if they still believe 

in chivalry 

seek it from

a blister pack

toss and turn

watch netflix

stare at their phones

count windmills

paddle to the loo

fight battles

count their wounds

try to shed their armour

wait for sleep

or the dawn

___________

THE BANALITY OF GOOD

I meet a man

at spit bridge

of similar age

also walking with his 

dog

who works for marine rescue

and who recently freed

a pelican that had become

ensnared in fishing line

that fishers carelessly

leave ( with rusty hooks)

on rocks and piers and jettys, 

(he had to throw a towel over it's  head, to calm it)

and we talked about how

we are always picking up 

plastic rubbish at our

local beaches

before it goes back into

the ocean to despoil and

damage

and then we wished each other

well

and parted ways

and little did he know or suspect

that I am a Zionist

_____________

I arranged an inter-faith

dinner

for all the. G-ds

but seating arrangements

proved difficult

as there was room

for only

One

___________

Declaration of The Faith

Allah Hoo Akbar!
G-d is great!

stab
stab
stab

_______________

הבדידות הולכת איתי

לכל מקום

ולכן

אני אף פעם

לא בודד

_______________

פתאום

ענן של עצב

התישב עלי

אבל אני נשארתי

שדה פתוח

______________

פתאום

ענן של עצב

התישב עלי

והוריד דמעות -

גשמי ברכה

_____________________

The Butterfly Defect

Because of

Iran's war

upon Israel

A Jewish student

in Canberra

was kicked out

of her sharehousell react

________________

The uplights

on the path

meant to show the way

blinded me

so what was once vaguely discernable

became impossible to see

________________

אני רוצה
להיות איתך
כזיכרון

מתוק

________

both the known
and the apparent
knower
are held in knowing
which can never
be known

__________

PREPARATORY EXERCISES

Many of us

before we can begin

some focused task

- marking student papers

- doing our tax

- changing the brake pads

need to get ourselves into the zone

- by sharpening pencils

- raking the leaves

- cleansing the bench tops

and those focused, demanding, necessary tasks

we have avoided for days

or months

or years

are themselves preparatory tasks

for the quiet that settles

when the task is done

________________________

from fb April 28th

tis an ancient mariner

and he stoppeth one of three

and he says: "I've lost my dog

but now she roameth free"

_________________________

Vacuuming

Ella's hairs

and associated sand

and garden debris

from the couch

almost six weeks

since she dropped

her body

I feel momentarily

guilty

and miss her warm

and loving presence

friend if only

I could hug you once again

________

FB 27 April 24

am curious

want

at least for a while

to have access to

the secret life

of other peoples bodies

their rythms

and responses

__________________

FB 21 April 24

Riddle me riddle me ree:

as soon as you are going towards it

you are going away from it

________

I went to

a singles gathering

perhaps driven there

by something I could

approximate as too

much time spent

with my own 

overly familiar

interior conversation

and ended up 

trapped in an

exchange of phatic

sentences

with a group of large 

women

in tent like dresses

with weathered faces

and deep gravelly voices

and hands like shovels

that could have knocked me out cold

with one punch

feeling light headed

as if I had slipped

rohypnol 

into my own drink

I  managed to escape

in the nick of time

______________

market forces

have got to

the honey suckle

the jasmin

and the frangipani

please tap

or swipe

here

to release

their scent

______________

First there was just G-d

then there was me and G-d

then there was me, a wife, and G-d

then there was me, a wife, a family, and G-d

then there was me, a wife, a family, a dog, and G-d

then there was me, half a family, a dog, and G-d

then there was me, a dog, and G-d

then there was just me and G-d

then there was just G-d

_________________

In the night

G-d scatters leaves

upon the carpet of the lawn

so that in the morning

the wedding

of first light

can take place

once again

__________________

everyone

is beautiful

in their own way

and everyone

has someone

who cared about them

at least once

the whole world

is built from loving grace

I don't know how 

but I’d like to believe

that even cancer particles

are kindness 

in disguise

______________

some journeys

need to be made on your own

in order to realise what holds both 

together and alone

_____________

Confusion I

I've been to the west and I've been to the east 

and I'm bloated with spirit like a warm bowl of yeast

I've been to the ashram, I've been on retreat

I've sat in the silence, I've stopped eating meat

I'm so enlightened I can't find my head

perhaps it has rolled away under the bed

I've been to satsang and I've been such a whore

and yet I'm no settled than I was before

__________ 

Cloud 

I was on a plane

everything was smooth

then we flew into a cloud

soft and fluffy and pink.

I got lost in that cloud

whatever was outside 

was unimportant

we lost altitude

I didn’t care

cloud, cloud and more cloud

oooooooh...  cloud

then we popped out of cloud

or cloud popped out of me

the air was thin and clear

hopefully I scanned the horizon 

for cloud

_________

Running the City to Surf 

The city to surf I ran alone 

without a true friend 

without a true home 

plasticup shards 

formed an angry sea 

dark footprint of human

loomed over me 

from the barbies 

the ex cows asked 

wistfully:

"what has all this to do with me?" 

_________

In Memoriam: Eli 

I knew a kibbutznik

who worked in the laundry by day

And at night slipped little poems under peoples’ doors

regarded as eccentric,

as happens in small communities,

he was gossiped about

in the dining room

or after passing on the path.

he handed me a little booklet of his poems

photocopied and stapled

and I might still have it 

somewhere

________________

Psalm of Immanuel

eyes

come back into your sockets

cheeks release

your taughtened lips 

hands unfurl

your clutching fingers

mind please

drop your story 

make way for the 

King of Glory

________________________

PROMISE

the all new impressa

will take happy families

on holidays

turn into the driveways

of manicured houses

pull up at hotels

ford rivers and forests

on endless adventures

will never take you

to a job you hate

to a hospital

to a divorce lawyer

to a vehicle accident

to a cemetery

_______

I called the call centre

I was feeling so bad

but then had one of the most wonderful interactions

I've ever had

Guided by voice prompts I gave my date of birth and ID

eventually I heard a click, and a voice spoke to me:

"Did you know  it said, "by taking your query online"

"you can save yourself a lot of valuable time"

Then they kindly played me a soothing tune

while I paced up and down

between the walls of my room

I boiled the kettle

made a nice cup of tea

watched a game show ep

upon the tv

did some gardening, fixed a tap

fed the dog who then

fell asleep in my lap

I started feeling a little perturbed

although I couldn't say why

I searched for help on the the website

till my eyes were red and dry

while they played more soothing music

and I clutched onto that phone

I suppose that song repeating

became a kind of glassy drone

on the plus side it helped me feel

slightly less alone

my eyes were getting heavy when after an hour or so

the music stopped and a human voice said something soft and low

"good morning,,,er good afternoon...is there anyone there...hello?

"I'm  have this problem" I gabbled "at a really critical time"

"I've tried the website, I've read the manual, but I cannot get back online."

"oh we can certainly help you with that tonight

can I just grab your name if that's all right"

"My name is Shachar", I said, "it just stopped"

"I was working and suddenly the connection dropped

And it hasn’t come back, no matter what I’ve done

Rebooted, reentered, debugged - its just gone"

"My name is Michelle,we can certainly help you today

But first a few security questions if I may."

I relaxed, felt relieved, we were moving along

this woman would sort out whatever was wrong

"Your password please, ends in 13 zeroes...?"

"my password" I stuttered,  "I don't recall one of those."

"That’s all right, your birth date and id number will do"

"But I’ve given them already, your cueing system asked me to

You’ve been very helpful, you’re awfully nice

But why do you have to capture things twice?"

"Its for your own safety, the calls are recorded

They’re logged and encoded, in case you’re defrauded

I gave her my id, I gave my date of birth

Gave my address, my weight, my girth

“thank you so much for that Suker”

“Shachar”

“Sorry, Sucker, now why were you calling this afternoon” she said

“Eeets because, medem, aish, my modem router, she is dead”

"Sorry, what did you say", Michelle's voice came down the line

would you prefer to call back at a more convenient time?"

"No I want this resolved now, I want you to sort it out!"

 "All right" said Michelle, "there's no need to shout"

I looked out the window

I looked at a tree

It seemed to be much much

much calmer

than me…

(to be continued hopefully)

______________________

Moral Narcissism: “Pro Palestinian” encampment 2024

In the name of

tolerance

we exclude you

in the name of inclusion

we other you

in the name of diversity

we cancel you

in the name of humanity

we dehumanise you

_____________

I sent my poems

to a dying man

so that like pharoh

they would accompany him

into the next world

__________

LOVERS' LEAP

when the universe catches you

in its safety net,

and you bounce

up and down

a few times,

and sigh

and all the vigilance

stored in the body

evaporates,

and you wonder

why you waited

so long

but know it was fear,

and you glimpse

the ocean of beneficence

waiting to carry you

to places

more alive

than any

imagining

if somehow

in your clown shoes

you found it in you

to shuffle

to the edge

and fall

__________________

time took my black head of hair

time took my first guitar

time took away

my innocence

now if time will take

away my "my"

what will remain

and to whom will it belong?

_____________________

HOOKUP

Seeking immunity

diplomatic

or crude

seeking immunity

from covid

and flu

seeking immunity

from suffering

and pain

seeking immunity

from the transient

changeful

hook me up

with eternity

now

_____________________________________________

_______

come out Immanuel

from under your rock

come out and take

the air

come out Immanuel

from your pretty green eyes

come out to see

what's here

come out Immanuel

from inside your shell

come out and

wave your claws

come out Immanuel

from the cave where you hide

come out to Life's

sorrow and joys

__________________

_____________________________

Back to Basics

I chatted 

about the romantic poets

short stories

journals, competitions

to

the young woman

with well manicured

nails

and tight pants

who works at

the chicken shop 

next door

and is studying

literature

at university

and thought

how sweet

was the visible outline

of her cunt

___________

I am driving through

hilly forests

on a winding green

arched road

and alongside me

a woman I am easy with

who has large lactating breasts

and every 5kms or so

we pull over

and she feeds me

_______________

Poetry as Punishment

I have a friend

who went to a school

where misdemeanours

were punished

by the principal

by giving pupils

a poem to learn

off by heart

such as

"The Man from Snowy River"

or "The Lady of Shallot"

which then had

to be recited

to the whole school

at assembly

and while some things

have faded

the punishment poems

remain with them

'til this day

for me too

poetry is a punishment

for thinking and feeling 

that has not been forgotten

until this day

_______________