unthemed

@corner 31 march 2026

i was an absurdly anxious child, and i suppose i must have known it wasn’t normal to be so anxious, yet i spent most of my life in extreme denial about it. then i was on a weird trip for work to a sort of cult gathering and i guess it made me think about historic childhood excursions and related feelings. i’m calling this

thinking about my history as a ferocious blusher on the weird work week road trip

storm away with amy
on the weird work week
road trip
yet wherever i go
i’m always me
and find myself adverse to
reverse columbo,
so i hold my tongue
pathologically, i realise,
in the hotel power shower
my beetroot trauma
my painful blushing
the loss of limb control
the shame and the denial
too scared to ask
for the haircut i wanted
until i was almost middle aged
nobody ever explains
the comb numbers
it’s not taught in school
barbershops remain
somewhat mysterious to me

i maintain that all my poetry is just one long poem and is to some extent a linear diary of the sort of things i do and think. i just write little things down as they occur to me, then work out what to do with it later. but sometimes, i write so much poetry in a day that it ends up just naturally telling a little story.

write poetry before the ball

drop the pen on the latest line
i’ve finally found my voice
then i read some early stuff
ah man i’ve lost it
may as well just do puns
so i moan about michelle mone
she pulled herself up
by the brastraps
filled her cups and ran
eventually manage
to tie my bow tie
go to the ball
it’s too loud
wish i had earplugs
go to the loo
do the thing where i
hover my hands under the
paper towel dispenser
expecting hot air
i suppose i’ll go home
and write poetry

i studied philosophy and politics and i’m autistic so i’m never sure how much other people know about philosophy so just to explain the reference, john locke was a philosopher who used the term ‘social contract’. it is a sort of philosophy that seeks to examine the circumstances in which people would and should submit to government. this philosophy was extremely influential on the drafters of the us constitution. for locke, private property was very important. so much so, that everyone must have, ‘as much and as good.’

life under actually existing capitalism iii

as much and as good,
john locke said
the social contract’s been
frustrated i pled
everything’s owned
there’s no land left
if they could meter it
they’d charge for breath

the tech is quite useful
although it surveils us
we pray the welfare state
won’t further fail us
for nearly two decades
crises have availed us
imposed by the rich
to distract and curtail us

and finally, isn’t this just the worst timeline. where are we headed? the nun murderer and pop singer katy perry hasn’t had a hit in years and yet bezos not only rocketed her into space, he also returned her safely. what a pointless technology.

we have to stop katy perry and her gang of space villains

i should prepare
for social stress,
but foolishly
don’t push myself
so katy perry’s
in her spaceship
i’m burnt out
and need a facelift
she killed a nun,
i liked it not
oligarchic turn
make it stop