Red white rose in hand He surveys the land He knows it’s his He’s got the power Strange ways about that man Strange world we’re living in and this world is ours Life is good when you want everything you have Taking into your own hands Hanging nonces eating rich If I can’t afford it I hate it You can't afford to miss this I can’t afford to go on like this Power A did anything for chocolate B was born with her heart on the right C poured a candle on Colin D burnt dinner & served it E is an expert at fobbing police F went to her own funeral G saw a ghost in the refuge H’s father was a housewife I has almost every illness J makes jewellery out of teeth K could only kiss women L’s left hand pointed to the moon M got into modern dance N had no next of kin O calls them her ostrich boots P’s the prettiest on the bus Q never tried quaaludes before R found a rat nailed to the door S stuffed smokes down the hotel toilet T loves TV & T-Rex U’s U.C. was slashed again V has a very good time W pissed on a war memorial X was x-communicated Y asks Y is this happening? Z said zero regrets Alphabet I am I, I am you I am Jennifer you are June I am you, you are I You are Jennifer I am June Some Romans canonised me sometime in the 4th Century Are you girls working? No tears on the beat please Disco dancing with the captives Wigs and chewing gum, whiskey and petrol bombs Pepsi cola addicts in cold tenements Express our distress don’t we deserve it? We made a pact, the pact made us Squeeze the mirror pieces into a closed fist Confession booth toilet ears to theatre doors As I chew, my food will win It feels as real as a film Pepsi Cola Addicts At my feet a windfall drops and I wonder what I’ve done wrong I kick the apple away blunting it on my chelsea boot I’m not a hunter-gatherer I haven’t been one for a hundred thousand years There’s no need for that now please I come home and wash a cartoon memory of childhood in the sink A lachrymatory vial that nothing in particular commissioned I pause to consider my hands Nails defend but they crucify also Don’t crucify me please There’s no need for that now please Please please please Help me please I’m okay I’m okay No need Considerations The stars green and purple they glow Like pinwheels they flicker Their mobilised, shining revolutions Buffing pages gold with a stone Animal tooth Making ink from burnt bone Strength to go alone It is my broom it is my dream It is my nightmare it’s my secret key Sling mud, tar, feather, and banish Your empire will be a dead fish Outlaw Disco He used to drive an army jeep Bottle-green and army-hard While the generals he hated so fiercely Slept on the surface Mick Jagger squawks on the radio So he doesn’t think about the guy who dove Off the barracks building roof The radio sings Go go in the limo the company gave you Like a bad memory Past restaurants you can’t afford Soon you will show them life isn’t fair Soon you can take it out on your children Sitting in the feel of a leather wheel Pearl in an oyster When you drive all your life Your teeth are many Peppered with black cavities How he loathed the Russians But did he hate them more for Destroying his beloved country? Or for making the worst cars he’d ever seen? Loneliness followed him his whole life everywhere God's Lonely Man No Roses Small Beautiful Flooded Palace Lay me in a bed that’s made of hydrangea flowers I used to talk to them in the backyard for hours Not a single word about god will be allowed Not a word about paradise will be pronounced Do you know about the witch who chewed her burial shroud Causing ill and disease in a nearby town? Should Have Been a Musician One day I can be like a man and I can hurt someone other than myself Intelligence is leaking from my eyes as I pull a bone out of me Who was the first divorcée? I don’t speak in pornography But do you remember Eurydice? Look at me you can erase me I feel it happen every day There’s a new divorcée every day They’re pulling the rings off of their fingers I’ve become one without ever marrying Without ever swallowing a jewel Sex is dead and we sift through the wreckage Cataloguing it’s our last thrill The First Divorcée
