Survey

No-one smiles
in this part of the city.
Sharp things silvertail
in back pockets.

Pedestrians run
the red light, it keeps
the chrome bulls
charging.

No one wonders snow
onto the mountain.
There are no seagulls
for children to throw

this / their sadness to.
How quickly sadness
can blacken a red
balloon.

Detached

I've been clinging
to this boat for hours
yelling until my teeth drop
but no-one comes
The wind is around 39 knots now
tide running the wrong way

The oars broke
She stood up to get the lifejackets
She weighed 165kgs
She had a heart attack
and fell overboard
I tore my trapezius muscle
trying to hold her
I let her go
I let her float away

The different colours of her skin
as she drifts in the rising sea

 
Clowning with Caligula

We watched in silence
as our Emperor hurled obscenities
into the English Channel.

Incitatus paced it out
in the shallow water,
his massive hooves
trampling any sign of crustacean.

Archers formed ranks
at the water's edge, then shot
arrows into the breakers
while Caligula slashed
at the sea with his sword.

Orders came to drag our engines
of war onto the sand dunes
and the cavalry rode in and out
of the surf, shredding the foam
with their spears.

Some of us watched the horizon
in the hope that a distant enemy
would appear, something we
could sink our steel into.

Then, to stop the boredom
we took off our plumed helmets
and filled them with shells
and we catapulted them to the stars.