Mare Nostrum (Lost at Sea)
The Palm Riviera
Liberty Villas (in her mind she owns one)
& the sea so flat, so calm
That old ladies take slow therapy
With walking frames in the water
& horses gallop in the shallows
But toxic, freighted (with) misery
Flotsam & jetsam, we disdain
Mare Nostrum
Cross current hatreds
Potent elsewhere
Falling trajectory
The Underground Railroad
The lost secret ways
(Land & sea)
From slavery
Call off the search
We are full, choc-a-bloc,
Complet
This ticks what boxes?
Protects what nation state?
What values we celebrate
Out of Flannagan – Booker winner –
Australian ‘mateship’
Now rationed, calibrated
Continents full, choc-a-bloc,
Complet with regrets, hypocrisy
Call off the search
Or worse
A sad litany
Now must validate the ticket
Lost at sea.
Meltdown (Questionnaire – IDS)
Pits & scars, we talk of
Gaps in bone structure
Holes – that the scan cannot show
Grey areas on the X-Ray
Triggers, man traps, shiver
Meltdown (s) on the rap sheet
Flashing lights
How many fits?
Loss of control (& how often)
The probe, endoscopy, prostate
Stress – the questionnaire is here
It identifies the props…
& it’s goodbye to wheelchair & benefits
There’s the lie, there’s IDS,
There goes compassionate conservatism
Made flesh.
The Cull; Broken / Bitter
Broken, the compact / of civilisation. ‘Got me barred again’. (Charlie – & still they spell your name wrong). Broken – impact assessments outsourced, ignored, at any rate, suppressed. Pre-emptive. To the knackers yard. What ’34 did for you. Got my cards. Over & above / this & everything persistent & shallow. Must be more than gripe & graft (it isn’t all about craft). Is about work …worth. Shafted. First we take …aim / or slingshot. What shibboleths …diary or select a memory? Or; came back to me. But is this even work? (Bitter) Informed / dormant. No-one is shirking. Bitter & impatient on all counts / all fronts. Deep freeze. Blame the patient (the runt of the litter) not the disease.