Faking It When Cleopatra rolled Out of the rug, she thought: Don’t worry! Even if I do not enjoy your performance, You will enjoy mine—a lot. I’d like to credit myself As an actress, but the truth About men is: I’ve yet To meet one unwilling To believe he is a singularly Exceptional lover—yeah, baby. … Read more
At Rudy’s Bar, Alassio (After Thomas Hardy) – O how could I order that tuna and chips, – And sip my beer and gaze at yachts and cruise ships Beyond the tops of changing booths and beach umbrella tips; – And glimpse and catch the sea’s soughing of old truths – Through exhaled smoke … Read more
Ballad of Lucy Kryton “There will not be a woman Prime Minister in my lifetime”, Margaret Thatcher The morning sun falls whitely on the lashes of Lucy Kryton. Her blondeness fully insured against theft, fire and termites. Her forehead the hard reality that care of both the elderly and the daft are best handled by … Read more
Kevin Higgins’s sixth poetry collection under the sardonic title Ecstatic starts with a dedication to the recently married Julian and Stella Assange, and this initial gesture is a perfect set-up for the poetic world we are about to enter. Prepare to be disillusioned, experience embarrassment for your government, mourn the death of journalism (and common … Read more
Kyrie Rotten fruit, rotten root. Hands up Don’t shoot. Kyrie eleison. By the waters of Columbine, of Blacksburg, of Newtown, by the Waters of Parkland and Uvalde, There I sat down beneath my desk (Don’t shoot) to weep. Christe eleison. My soul to take. Kyrie eleison. My soul to keep. Gloria There is no No … Read more
The prize painting in the National Gallery of Ireland is, without a doubt, Caravaggio’s depiction of The Taking of Christ. The painter presents us with an iconic image of Judas in the act of betraying Christ with the sign of a kiss, as previously arranged with Roman legionaries, who are depicted in costumes from Caravaggio’s … Read more
Poems in the Manner of the Devil After Alexandar Ristović (1933-1994) If you can’t chew on oxtail, eat knuckles instead. The bounty of bedlam, Let these crumbs be your Thanksgiving, Or Last Suppers. Imitation is always the greatest form of flattery. See the world now through the light of wine. Do you have confidence in … Read more
Mowing How dare you go, leaving me alone to do the mowing? You used to dig the plantains out by hand and rake the moss but after you went I called in a firm to weed and feed the lawn. It is green and even now, clear of buttercups and daisies. I start at … Read more
Safe To Say How ghastly the day before yesterday was now everyone associated with it is dead. In the future I’ll be against what’s going on now. I’ll be on the television, horrified. But not yet. As a civilised person, I’m absolutely in favour of the nice policeman now, one hundred percent against the tear … Read more
Somatotropism My lungs were out of helium, so I wandered out of my anti-memory cell to buy some freedom vouchers. The land, its never-satisfied lips… I remembered every man was his dog (and a mad Englishman.) I remembered being a bumblebee in milk. Agony and honeysuckle. Was I vaccinated against imprisonment? Was I immune to … Read more