Critical - A Tanka

There’s a gap in the
Market for some critical
Thinking the problem’s
Not the thought process it’s that
It’s all just market driven

She

She brogue-nosed the bouncer,
Then loafed against the bar.
She brown-aled the half glass,
Wi’ pin badge mouth,
Made 5 points sharp,
Each of them blue star.
She liner-eyed the terrace band,
She cut them down
With feathered looks then
Fringe flicked the excess.
These scarf-strangled chancers
Bored her daft,
An’ her Regal hit the deck.
Moves were made checkerboard,
By the eager to embed,
The red-haired queen kept
Hers buttoned down,
As her bottoms belled his head.
Wi’ elbows back,
An’ a dog tooth smile
Drew a smoke ring,
Stood her ground
And kept things done,
Not said.

Nil by Mouth

North
Or south
No one quite
Said
I’m tired
Like Kathy Burke
From her
North
And south
In Nil by
Mouth

The Art of Listening

The art of listening’s
Lost

To the man sat on the street
To the fan in their seat
The art of listening’s
Lost

The self-appointed
Cultural representatives
Have currency in their ears
Through the nose
It’s us
Who pick up the
Cost

Figureheads figure figures
Run their lines
Line their own and
Run their stones
Gather no
Moss

Fibbers fib
Fiddlers fiddle
Groups fill forms
Form fillers form groups
Pints get thinner
The art of listening’s
Lost

They spiel
We pay
We pay to view
Yet another 3 points
Lost

It’s killing us
When we cannot get
These points
Across

In questionable times
This Groundhog Day
Is bleak on repeat
Is covered in
Frost

The art of listening’s
Lost