Carnival Rides

Walls of Death ask to
be peered at [leant in
over shoddy welding]

until a howl of breath
then provokes a spin
into a swirl of vertigo

So sleep – sleep alone
[shoot-em-up carnival
clamours don’t count]

In Super 8 minutes of
thrill-rides roll her tale
[fat men turned on by

her lickerish quartets
& spools flicked upon
her jerked-off screen]

Ride & orbit her hoops
painted red & 360-odd
tyre-rattled pine planks

Your fitted door shuts
too tight – no rider will
get out of there [alive]

St Margaret rode on a
Yamaha motorbike – a
2-stroke affair of 49cc

No one dares mention
Acapulco [not drugs or
death of La Quebrada]

You won’t have vitamins
[but you’ll always eat up
fantasy in script & lines]

& motorcycles will idle –
as that next show is set
to rewrite poetic rhyme

Still Reeling

An Adler typewriter centre on a desk –
in a remote mountain resort [actually
Elstree – London ] – tricks by chippies
& gaffers – a fake Apollo landing too?
Eagles & minotaurs vex up on walls/
Locations by a second film crew/ Off
white to grey to haemorrhaged hues –
to a scene of clues – or red herrings –
or subliminal lies – no commentaries –
no sense by floors or corridor routes –
just a tracking shot following a small
child on his trike – pedalled & steered
as if another level of plots – carpets &
wall coverings set to confuse with all
eyes on another viewing/ Metaphors –
intents – a room examined every time
by film buffs & message seekers/ RIP
Stanley Kubrick – dead but still reeling


Also on Medium

Watch The Road

I had exhorted myself
not to watch –
but my capacity to let
myself down
wins old momentum’s
slow ways/
A four-times-father-of../
More times
worse with [or without]
four of my own
on an uneven grey road/
I am alone –
having left her ring from
my limp finger/
She exited - from home/
I wait [bare]
without a firearm on us
[in my palm]/
No weapons left - apart
our deaths/
On that road from home
breath tires/
Pull - breathe out & watch
The Road


A poem about ‘The Road‘ – a film based upon Cormac McCarthy’s novel. I had promised myself never to watch it, but recent events have dulled my sensibilities

Also on Medium

The Birds

He pauses his TV to work out what he’s watching [engage Google & explore]
Do you recall? Our effortless recount [any digits] ‘off pat’ [as we said] – Who
knows that motor? It’s an Aston DB2 being [too-hastily] driven with a brace
of fake lovebirds in Hitchcock’s first scenes in his film of The Birds / Driving
feral in pelts – heels & a rented motorboat – No, no bare dips on this road trip
She was clawed by Brylcreem Man & an insatiable gull / Neither artiste won
an Oscar [as we Google & explore] / Tippi Hedren lives on / Pleshette is dead

Piano Men

The unannounced pianist
was a pummeler –
less Jools Holland
more jewel robber
We politely relocated
from The Griffin’s bar roar
and found ourselves in
a Rocketman party
at another restaurant
five minutes south
where women wore glitter
and sang loud homage
to Elton John’s flickers
of flares of greatness