Living flame —or— How it feels to be on fire
I resemble you
like one
resembles one billion.
We both move
and breathe
grow
and eat
fuck
and feel
and excrete—
Feel?
Don’t act so surprised.
You say I’m not sensitive
when it comes to feeling
you say
I’m deprived.
Well, watch me close—
watch how I writhe
as I torch myself
from my tongue
to my toes.
watch how I reach
out
towards the things that I need
and want
and don’t know—
watch me burn!
watch me flicker
and flare
and light up
the room
that was dark
and the hearth
and the home
that was bare—
watch me blaze!
through this world
without care!
As you used me
controlled me
and put me out
one day you’ll lose
control
and I’ll
put you
too
out.
Coronation
All is calm out on the streets
While amputated at the knees
Wanderers who no more wander
Their children wonder what’s beyond the
City walls of peace and quiet
Dirty screens of sex and finance.
On windowsill balconies:
Weeds, not violets
They strain to hear who’s next to die. All
Hell is raging in their minds
“We’ll get engaged in due time,”
A voice echoes, over Skype.
The door is closed, from inside
Her loving husband’s narrow cell
“What’s the fuss, man? What the hell!”
But as the months pass in this way
They begin to fear their own decay
Like their neighbours, they are snipers
They get their neighbours in their sights and
Stockpile ammo, load their rifles
Take aim, and prepare to fire.
Those without a decent piece
Throw the fruit of stunted trees
Malnourished under iron leaves
Of airtight, light-tight canopies…
But as the years pass in this way
No-one, not one, thinks to say:
How easy the pacification
Of every free [read: passive] nation
And when they do decide to leave
Know that they can’t count on me.
They had their chance. The hour’s late.
Now it’s time they face their fate:
All is calm out on the streets
When amputated at the knees.
