don’t want

to    w a l k

any where  any more

 

lingering orientalism

                   delivered

              to your door

 

              —

 

guy does the guy

 

            collected guy’s

collective events gaga

does the gaga

 

&

           yes

when i think about it

echolalia’s

        not that medical

 

              —

 

antigen desserts

lined up

 

leaning across

the oblong bar

 

it’s me

&

the irish guy

pat

&

habib

the algerian guy

 

(deux mecs

        et moi)

 

at

the zinc counter

 

we’re

dreaming a drink

we’re

lingering

à denfert rocherau

 

this page

intentionally

      left bank

 

never jetting up

                again

 

              —

 

the blanket fringe

        walks across

             my cheek

         like a spider

 

              —

 

what’s ‘arvo’

         for morning?

 

              —

 

bare hands

     smooth

a plane tree trunk

 

shaving

under

the cambian layer

         scrape    sift

             more dust

 

              —

 

no pension person

wondering

            what’s next

 

spockalock investor

searches

     is my airbag safe

                   dot com

 

insurance advice

        blame a fog

 

              —

 

travel’s out

              bottling’s out

             touching’s out

 

cloud

   i cloud cloud

it’s

nothing to you

           on your

security bubble

cloud

     to wherever

 

(get   offa   ma)

 

don’t lose sleep

 

don’t lose focus

 

            not now

 

&

 

you did

 

              —

 

history asks

could things

get any worse

             could

           history

get any worse

could worse

get any worse

 

like

wittgenstein

whacking

the slow kids

at

the village school

 

any worse?

 

(surely not)

 

boxed their ears

&

one child died

 

wittgenstein

fled

to vienna

 

              —

 

reading

this sorry tale

while

       lingering

almost reclining

on

   a curvy bench

in

 the pocket park

 

a favourite

outdoor wedding

              location

 

fragments

silver bits

white tat

ashy peach

chintz flake

rubbish

left behind

 

              —

 

what was

a glory box

supposed to be?

 

viennese

  lace curlicue

   gilt curlicue

froufrou inlay

 

an oakwood trunk

     full of folderol

     kept

     for a girl

         for marriage

 

not dowry –

              glory

 

a trousseau

     linen tea towels

          embroidered

             tablecloths

 

&

denouemental

        enslavement

   to slow cookers

&

         white goods

 

             —

 

(i know –

    ‘denouemental’

i know

        i made it up)

 

              —

 

lingering

       between fridges

   in

   the electrical store

               that boasts

‘you can shop with confidence’

 

              —

 

receiving the latest

    pronoun & noun

            instructions

                     to use ‘folks’

               instead of ‘guys’

sounds like

advice from nambour

 

         the folks

leaning across

the oblong bar

 

       two folks

les deux mecs

              & me

     at the zinc counter

                    lingering

                 over drinks

        à denfert rocherau

 

that’s

           the bar

           directly above

           the catacombs

if you need

some poncy atmosphere