the last sin   pale ashen sky a bleary eye clouds of recurring screams... i am a zoo   an octopus leviathan tentacles into an ocean of unformed emotions... syphilis and love     syphilitic pall stifles the clear blue i contort...   shell and pearl   amidst highs and lows in life's ocean flows a shell peony-mouthed...   i am an unmarried mother     fed on stings of barbed milk morality my child-plankton...   the lovers   cell upon cell bridge of their union hung on the pillars... rebirth   ogre of age and time cavil at a warm picture... the young today   innocence thaws at the altar of ambition...		down down down howl howl howl million mutinies with no voice but a whimper crow crow crow fly away crows their chattering incessant at a distance yet so near remorseless cling cling cling like a wrap film stifling dark clouds bearing no rain but occasional light blur blur blur a ray of hope in a phantom world the real masked in make-believe the lines are a smudge down down down it’s a frightening town the citizens are all at a pub watching football playing darts reading dog-eared books devouring the Sun soporific another draught please the waitress with colourful beads mauve and pink and orange and green in her hair juggles her hips poetry in slo-mo still-life trance is in and the ghosts are having a royal council in the town hall planning mergers and acquisitions down down down it’s a frightening town (August 22 2004) Poetry Home