MACHINE MEDITATION:

I know a man
Who crashed with a limp
Crushed his jewels into the petrol tank
Undeterred
He gets back on & rides
Slides
Into walls on black ice
I know a man
Who loves his machines
Drives deserts & Ocean highways
Shunted by young studs
In high power motors
I know man
Loves the open road
Gets back on & rides

(K)

SKY AS LOW AS MILK & GREY:

‘Up On The Roof‘, the song lodged in my bones
when I was young, loved the melancholy between
the voice & strings, the hidden sigh, the alone-ness
I could identify, even that age. Perhaps it’s why
I park the car on the roof in every town. Something
about solitude, a look-out, a tower, an early warning,
see them coming, light a beacon, get the jump, build
a sky bridge to the edgeland,something about being
up high, close enough to be touched by the sky.

(K)

BOSH, POSH, DOSH:

What you wanna do is move t’ Surrey, buy a big place in
Boxhill. Yeah, I know a bloke who lives daan there –
Sarf o’ the River. It’s weird daan there, Sarf o’ the
River – Chocolatebox architecture, posh.

(K)

STIR IT WITH A CROOKED SPOON

There’s a familiar silence in the house this morning,
waiting for frustration’s angry mouth. I slide around
the kitchen floor, illuminated by a red sun singing
‘Cherry Oh Baby’, charging that protective inner smile,
a boy whistling at ghosts in the dark.

(K)

I’M RIGHT HERE:

It used to be fun when we were young. I must’ve left
before you did, though I can’t remember when or why,
I was probably bored. I left before I was thrown out
of the team for not being aggressive enough, for not
pushing, shoving or scratching & talking French.

What are you doing today? I’m sheltering from eyes
in a quiet place, hidden away in plain sight.

(K)

THE BACKGROUND HUM OF RHYTHM TONGUES:

Who wants the Melt? The Melt? Who wants the ‘other one’?
Don’t get too serious or too unkind, just let go of each
other’s hands in sync with the tempo of gentle French tongues.

(K)

CONCEALED IN THE OPEN:

In a quiet place, hidden away, in plain view,
off a crowded room, I listen. Footsteps on the
stairs of an arriving voice. Two women talk in
animated French.
“I was quite young, I don’t know what happened.
It’s quite a commitment. Basically I was quite
difficult, troublesome, singing stupid songs,
holding hands across the table.”

(K)

JUST PASSING THROUGH:

It feels like New York, luminous with dark rain.
Young girls smoking skinny cigarettes looking cool to
speed up the goodbye.

(K)

SLY ONE UP THE STREET:

“We’re goin’ to the O2! We’ve ‘avin’ a BOX, it’s like
BUSINESS CLASS! I’m ‘avin’ a sly smoke on the street
wiv me mate & if it was me I’d go the Chocolate Route.”

(K)

TALKING WITH A TWIN-EYE STARE:

You make your mouth move on delivery into the arms of
the Velvet City. You smile & smell of Playdough on an
afternoon train. Wearing a big fake diamond ring to match
your hair, talking in tongues with a twin-eye stare.

(K)