Our Posh Liberal Friends for Susan Whenever I show them the Future, they refuse it; say: this future has bad hair, waves its arms around too much, is too Jewish, or not Jewish enough, too not-a-woman, or the wrong sort of woman. This Future has a face that one day might raise the corporate tax … Read more
Presidential When you finish reading this poem, you’ll remember only the Black Forest Gateaux I bought you once. I had no option but to vote for that tax on women’s shoes but greatly admired the fight you put up against it; have kept all the press cuttings, especially those that took care not to mention … Read more
Tribute Acts Each witch hunt is a tribute act to the last. There is always a committee of three. The gravity in the room is such they struggle to manoeuvre the enormity of their serious faces in the door. Except in the TV version, there is hardly ever a microphone. Though they will usually give … Read more
The First Obscenity Before we turned our eyes from nudity, Or banished certain words, death was the first Obscenity—the one from which the rest, In time, would find their way. The first To make a joke of life. The first To show us what may come of children’s games: A skull left caked in mud, … Read more
The Joke after Walter Benjamin A barrel of industrial waste poured into a suit donated by a casino owner who knows people with a tangerine tea towel tossed strategically on top because it was the only available metaphor for hair was running for re-election as CEO of South Canadia against an old coat with holes … Read more
Spolia Opima Models, slender and famished as cheetahs, Shed their imperial haute couture— Already in sweatpants, they hail their cabs Behind the Grand Palais before Applause dies down inside around The vacant runway. Afternoon sunlight’s Lambent overhead on friezes of Lutetian Limestone. Violinists grimace at their scores— Haydn, Hollywood, the B’s and Broadway hits, Rehearsal … Read more
Medea’s Hymn from Ovid O guardian of the dark, keeper of creeping shadows, o night I’m standing in… And you, timid stars, who wait for her arrival to shine… And you, Hecate, Hecate, Hecate, who knows and keeps the herbal secrets, the potion’s potency, the rites of sorcery… And you, Earth, who grows the elements, … Read more
When Henry Kissinger again fails to die Another tree in the Central Highlands loses all its leaves A girl sits on a visiting diplomat’s lap Someone organises a Nelson Rockefeller look-alike party which Henry Kissinger attends An election result somewhere is declared null and void for its own good An interrogating officer switches on the … Read more
After Recent Unfortunate Results Next election onwards, there’ll be a second vote for those who turn up with, under their arm, a print copy of one of the larger newspapers and answer a few unobtrusive questions to prove they’ve consumed it correctly. A third for those who also present receipts that show they’ve dined sufficiently … Read more
Five Poems trampled, rain-sodden the leaves brown, green, yellow and a crimson gilded wings flapping to the wind above the trees the joy of the storm pigeon juicy and sharp the first few blackberries summer’s sweetness yet to come bounteous blackberries along the brook warm and sweet they meet my lips purple stained, thorn pierced … Read more