the work of winter comes

unable to execute
a victim of to do lists
on a run
i stop to pee
and see a baby deer
a radical idea
why count debt
and gdp
why not just
make the world
a nice place to be?
maybe happy people
will be more productive
and maybe tidying up
will be stimulating
all by itself
in sickness and in health
turn it up this is techno

this is the trilogy of four to the floor
the future before us
has been foretold
hand pumps gave us feudalism
we got capital from coal
techno determines
the rate of profit will fall

thank you for joining me for another month of the love epochal. and what a month it was. my dad turned 80 and went on holiday. i bought a wardrobe. we all enjoyed some poetry. join me back here again next month for… more of the same. except completely different. but basically the same.

jog on by the desire path

jog on by the desire path
avoid the horse’s rear
badly i write
the fronted adverbial
pick acorns like a reindeer,
chuck a right
ariana throws her dummy at me
and theo puts her in the bin
two hours drive
to a twenty minute sauna
jog for a period
in a lancaster lane

flick it spin it pull it bop it
turn it off, put it in my pocket
this is techno, we can’t stop it

michael gove has a lot to answer for, but this particular bit was aimed at his reform of education in england. why are they telling children about fronted adverbials? caringly, nobody did about this.

forget about yesterday and chorus

today…
was better than yesterday
though work is stretching me
into a vacuous husk
sealed up with snot
trapped in my head
with brain fog,
climbing to-do mountain
but it could be worse
imagine what yesterday
was like

this is the trilogy of four to the floor
the future before us
has been foretold
hand pumps gave us feudalism
we got capital from coal
techno determines
the rate of profit will fall

ah this reminds me – my august last year was even harder. last year i had a new job, and i was on my first ever family holiday with my girlfriend’s family. i was still picking up the basics of how to perform my role, while my project was continuing at pace without competent leadership. fortunately things are less stressful this year.

the last day of summer and chorus

i sleep in
on the last day of summer
and it’s clear
the things i love, want, need
are the same things
that drive me to despair
listen careful, listen clear
this is techno that we hear

this is the trilogy of four to the floor
ai can tell us
what we already know
for the measly price
of the climate disaster
the technofuture
can bring it round faster

thank you for joining me for the second stanza of part four of the love epochal: technodeterminism. i think that must be the 20th stanza so far. join me here next month and every subsequent month for more poetry, as the love epochal continues.

obligation iv

there are but two types of job.
it seems to me
you can be “x and poet”;
or “poet and y”.
why is there no option
not to be a poet
it appears to be the case
that poetry
is a sentence
that must be served
we work so hard
we all do
we need to rest from
always serving others
yet i offer an apologia
for my art
i just feel guilty
whenever i’m not working
so work must be created
then feared and resented
is this a life?

i used to go to the sauna every monday night. funny how life’s little routines change. long bike rides and quiet hot nights. i have these needs i don’t really understand. for space and time. for physical sensations. i never traveled for work for a decade but now i do it again. every few months. and i stay overnight at a hotel and have a sauna. then drink a cold beer with dinner. a new reason to spend some time alone.

bike ride etiquette + chorus

stung by a wasp
she just shrugs it off
chased by a dog
same place i clocked
the japanese grannies
i’m infinitely patient
for the souls i love
everyone else
gets five minutes to catch up
then we go without them
turn it off, turn it round
this is techno

this is the trilogy of four to the floor
ai can tell us
what we already know
for the measly price
of the climate disaster
the technofuture
can bring it round faster

my girlfriend (who i’m moving in with at the weekend) was out on a bike ride with me when a wasp stung her arm. she just carried on like nothing happened. what a woman. i’ve never been stung by a wasp. but i did jump in the canal to avoid the one that stung my lover.

the neutral samaritan (prologue) and chorus

i try to be a taciturn
neutral samaritan
a helpful mannequin
directing crooks and stooges
alike on their quests
we’ll work it out on
the trans europe express
i spend a sunny night
stuck at my desk
turn it up, this is techno-something
but what’s next

this is the trilogy of four to the floor
the thump sets the beat
and the dog whistle the tone
kick drum snare
in your headphones in your home
the technofuture is ours alone

thank you for joining me for the first stanza of part four of the love epochal: technodeterminism. i predict more in august.

the biggest ride of the summer

take the train to lockerbie
soaked twice on the heatwave day
learn it
then you’ve earned it
always pack a gilet
sun cream
gets in your eyes
as the king meant to say
through coalburn a wheel-sucker
and deadwater and succour
climb abandonist
when i felt the thirst
as a stab in the kidneys
a painful business
don’t have a cow
abunga dude
bloody lookin’ rose
is looking good
lily pads
and other wet plants
then keith goes to a barbecue
and we just ride home in the rain
how come we don’t get burgers

the final chorus of the gilet years, which only lasted six months

that’s our lot
for the gilet years
a window of calm
between crises
it’s the unseemly quiet
amidst the tempest
when the storm is over
what will be left?

alternative ending and final chorus, making the previous final chorus the penultimate one all along

those were the gilet years
congratulations
if you’re still here
this is the end
until more similar tomorrow

and that’s it for part three. i hope you enjoyed giletdonism. please come back next month for part 4: techno-determinism.

the last antipasti v

i remember
when i was young sprout
thinking that if i was the first human
it would never have occurred to me
to eat food
or make love
that was an absurd thought
for a cruciferous vegetable, i know
but come on and eat me,
end this limbo
let me go
my whole life
flashes before my florets
i’m sliding off the plate
into the wastebasket
into the bin
a cardinal sin
and you know
i don’t see any chips in here,
you philistines.
i am a prize!
how did this happen to me?
am i weird looking,
or weird being?
you reach the top
you’re hot
and then you’re not
just one shot
then you’re compost.
it’ll happen to you too
one day.
memento mori.
i regret nothing.

have i written about the reverse columbo before? in columbo, the detective series, detective columbo presents as a bit dim. like a c.i.d. rocky balboa. but then at the end, he would be half way out, and he’d raise his finger – just one more thing. and he would point out a little detail, immaterial probably, but it would be just enough to tell the suspect that he may as well have been caught red-handed.

the reverse columbo is when, at the end of a presentation or discussion, you ask a question that reveals that you haven’t understood anything. why did the statue of liberty on planet of the apes not depict an ape though? perhaps they revered humans.

the last antipasti ii

mind the time
you over-ordered carbohydrates
a panicked salad reprobate
arancini, croquettes and chips,
you had a need that i could sate
pumped with protein
and polyphenols
light and taut
and a little bit special

june is a good month. may, the month of invitation, is my favourite month. but june is the month of the yawning day. it is a very special time in northern latitudes. happy memories of walking home from being out nightclubbing and the sun is up already and i’ve not even been to bed. after work, i can go out riding my bike in the country side. and, as i write, it’s warm. there is sunbathing to be had. tan lines to be burned. brocolli to eat.