READING     


I spent all afternoon reading
In a dilapidated rattan chair which

Had short sharp spikes waiting.

The armrests were hard and angular
No good for arms
But the fatter part of an open book
Nestles there neatly
When you pause
To look out of the window.
I tempted the cat
With my warm corduroy lap
But he ignored me.
Sure it will never end
Our feud over her
Until one of us is dead
And it's him
I have my money on.
Whenever I went to the kitchen
To fill up with coffee
He sprang an eye
But he never moved else.
Well fuck him.
I sleep with her behind locked doors
And he can kiss my arse.
The November light began to fade.
In the skeleton trees
I could see birds arranging themselves
And I put away my book,
The room in that glooming shadow
Artificial light spoils.
I stepped out
To "the stilly air of eventide"
And heard echoic rumbling
Familiar sound
Of the incoming Concorde
And there it was
Like a flat swan flying
In and out of cloud.
The telephone rang just then
And as I went back in
I could see his tail twitching
Brushing against the glass
Of my tropical aquarium.
It must be so uncomfortable for him
Lying on the hard surface
But it has the best view in the room.
I said we'd had a good day
Reading together, and yes I would 

meet her at the Chantecler and yes 

I had remembered to feed him.
Sure I said, he's looking at me now.

GIRL WITH UZI

I remember Ruth
Half of her was fat half was meat.
She liked Sundays
And in those days I was fast on my feet.
In and out of Mass
And running home with the papers
Couldn't wait to ink her arse.
We'd read the news all over the bed.
I knew she was going
Her eyes sad like that girl in the painting.
Often enough she called me
Made it easier to bear the waiting.
Out and about all day
I came home to find her farewell note.
She didn't know what to think.
The spare key glinted on the table.
I wanted to know
Why she chose to go to war.
She did her time
No one would have asked for more.
She knew my other friends at a distance.
Semites kill each other
And I thought it best in the circumstance
To keep them apart.
I never saw her again
But I found out why she went to fight.
It was written.
All my friends say she had a right.

IT'S A DOG'S LIFE.

Thursday. 3rd.
Hey! He let go the lead.
I'm free! Sure, I'll wait for him
at the corner, I ain't stupid.
Here we go. Where is he?
Shit, wossappnin?
What are all those people ... ?
Oh, no, I knew he'd ...
Hey, lemme in, he's my old man.
Ah, fuck it, I just hope,
someone thought to call Emergency.
I'll hang around here,
maybe I'll go home later when ...
Here it is, the ambulance,
poor old guy, looks pretty bad,
not the first time, oh well.
Hey! Waddayerdoing!?
Don't pick me up! I'm a fucking dog,
not a pussy. Hey!
Geeeeeez ... It's dark in here.
What's this, a hotel?
Waydaminnit. Wall to wall dogs!
What the fuck ... ?

Friday. 4th.
I miss my old man.
They give you shit to eat here,
I'm not on a diet, I mean,
And nobody talks to you,
like, not even the other dogs,
noisy bastards. Get a life!
I'll be glad when this is over
and I'm back home.

Monday. 18th.
Was that a boring weekend!?
No T.V. No snacks. Nada!
Like I say, I'll be glad to get ...
Now, what's this guy want?
Hey, watch the hands, man, HEY!
Where are you taking me?
This is kind of a bleak little room,
and what kind of a table is that?
It's cold, man ... Wossat?
Hey! Get your hands off. Waddayou doing?
Wait, wait, you motherfucking,
stupid fucking human,
wait, you've got it all wrong.
I'm in A1 condition, look,
always have been.
Get that thing away from me,
just let me go home,
and I'll say no more about it.
No! No! Wait! Stop that!
Ouch! You've got it all wrong,
I keep telling you,
it's not me who's the diab ...

BEAUTIFUL TO WATCH

Since the accident I walk slower,
Go to physio once a month and get laid,
I wish, get laid out, bitch, I love her.
My wheelchair is a lightweight model,
Stows away in the car just in case
And sometimes I give in and use it,
Spin myself down to the corner mailbox.
Jamie is coming to stay with me
For a few days, he doesn't get much time
To relax and he likes it here, the sea
And the countryside restore him.
I first met him at a match, he bowled
six overs of uninhibited pace,
Took three wickets including mine
And scored a glorious and sudden nought.
We went out to eat and became friends;
He missed his dad I think and well,
My kids are a long way away,
Grown up and making babies so
I let him walk all over me.
He made it into a county side,
On a trial, no contract but
A good chance of making the team
If he could just bowl straight
Long enough to do consistent damage.
He ran too, cross country and marathon,
one of those athletes, so beautiful to watch.
When I fell off the cliff he came
To the hospital and laughed,
It was funny I suppose, I hate flying.
He said he was going to Europe,
The county hadn't offered him a contract
And he had taken a job selling cars.
That was four years ago, and now
He's different, no more sport
Ever, but he doesn't let it get to him,
He wrote and told me so, last week.
I can't wait to see him, he'll be here
Any minute now in his new van,
There he is, turning the corner,
And I wave him into a space;
The ramp comes down and Jamie,
His smart electric chair zooming
Nearly runs me down, 'You old bastard,'
Punches me with a crooked hand;
I can feel it, the disease that will kill him
But he can still hit me where it hurts.

LOW LIGHT

The old man went down slowly
On to his knees.
He was already dead, I think.
His dog kept walking,
Trailing lead.
He had on one of those plastic collars,
Stop him eating himself.
The old man rolled over to his left,
Head landing on the concrete.
I couldn't hear the sound it made,
From up on the rooftop.
In a moment passers-by began to realise
And they converged on the still form.
The dog reached the corner and turned round.
I heard sirens closing. I started shooting.
Soon a crowd surrounded the man.
The little dog scurried up,
But he couldn't get through the ring of people,
So he trotted over to the railings.
The ambulance arrived and took the man away.
A couple of people hung around,
But nobody seemed to notice the dog
Squatting forlorn under the streetlamp.

I took a couple of shots of him.

CAUSE OF DEATH

Thing with dead mothers, you never know when they'll come back and haunt you.
You bury them, and you think, that's it, you'll be doing your own laundry. 

Acute renal failure, they said, kidneys up the creek. Well I'm not so sure about it. My 

brother has an idea she gave up, left it to Jesus, what with the Old Man at it with that 

Latin woman, and both of us knocking up our girlfriends one after the other. And the 

laundry, sure. I don't know though, you don't spend all that time swelling up in pain, 

suffering, to get out of a little washing, not even if you're a Catholic. Catholic as fuck, 

the sisters; mum, the youngest, first one off to heaven. 

Aunty Lillian, The Ward Sister, had rung to say we should come. Middle Aunty Celia

meets us, she's in floods. They held mum's hands, her eyes fluttered and she was gone.

Big Aunty put a blue arm around Middle Aunty's shoulders. Me and him leave them 

grieving.

I think she just died, like people do. Unlucky, so young. At least she never knew
about us, the sex and drugs and all that, the divorces. Well, not the divorces anyway, or
Himself, at it again, and again, but no, I think she died of love, of a broken heart. My 

daughter Sophie, The Teacher, arrived. Same eyes. Same hair. Same name.

HERE THERE BE HUMANS


The last explosions
travelled along their own lightwaves
to a trillion possible futures.
Embers have cooled and a pall of dust
rising from the dark world 
Is split apart by new mountains.
Trickling breezes gather
swirling into potential storms.
The signal from the first bomb disintegrates
as it strikes the giant star
thousand mile long flames reaching out
each tip pulsing gold.

On the reawakening world rain forms lakes.
At the edges crawling slime.
More light penetrates the clouds.
The signals one after another
reach the distant star.
Millennia disappear into space. 

When the world has grown into lush green
with long grasses and swaying trees
the poles are disguised again by plastic ice.
Circling storms break the silence.
The first eggs begin to fall
cracking in flaming streams
slowing in the atmosphere
tiny wings breaking free
scales reflecting the green earth
eyes the colours of starbursts.
The new world slowly turns
and the skies are filled with dragons.