Hip Sheep

The man
In the Clapton Tracksuit’s
On the blower
The progressive regressive atmosphere
Here’s no grower
Where a blooming
Girl with the public smile
Describes it for us for a while
All loon clobbered in obvious style
Prescribes it zone 3
2 mile
Vile
‘Cos
As much as they need electricity
To power this eccentricity
They google authenticity
On the outskirts of the city
Gritty
Stroll on
Push through
Don’t pull over
Where provincial hipsters
Move much slower

Funeral Parlance - A Tanka

Jesus! Came the news
He shot himself in the foot
So he couldn’t have
An open-toed sandal at
His own funeral. Scandal.

Parliament Gob

In the gob that was parliament
The members of teeth sat
In shades of decay and stability
To bite down on an issue
That was fed to them
On a drunken night out
At 3am
The upper and lower chambers met
To vote for the words
To stay in or
Get out

Molars in the upper chamber
Waived lead ballot papers
The incisors were indecisive
But went with the majority
The canines bit sharp
And pointed at the opposition
The gold tooth at the front and centre
Suddenly felt uneasy and alone
The rest of the front bench
Who got all the attention
Were mostly false
And had nothing of substance to contribute
The committee on the right at the back
Had ground themselves down
To a hardened position
And any wisdom teeth
Had long been extracted

After the river of salivation
Crashed open the lips to the public
The rotten bastard at the back of the chamber
Sucked out any juice in the room
After the gob
Got together
And voted for the words to
Get out
Under the glare
Of the dentist’s chair
The experts decided
That the evidence
For such a statement
Just wasn’t there

The Sum of Some Parts

Some morning
Some way to go
Some let the car doors slam just because they can
Some overrate the sun’s rays and catch an edge and walk
Some think it is an advantage to shortcut through
Some other’s workplace to get to their patch of platform quicker
Some are wrong
Some walk in military step
through a gallery of tattoos who defend the bus stop as if life depends
Some acknowledge postmen and always bin their tab-ends
Some wheel around handbags on wheels as if life was in miniature
Some addicts queue their half-lives for the asos or the amazon
Some will never return
Some queue to sign on
Some queue to sign off ill
Some know what was in that bag by the lamppost
Some post no bills
Some skip round bins and say morning to the sweeper of the street
Some are leashed and shed their bark and walk on skitty feet
Some notice shoes
Some haircuts
Some trees
Some see the fella eating Tesco sushi for breakfast and ask what kind of prick is he

Some mum loses the plot
Some dad proudly carries the school project he’s made all on his own well done
Some doubt that life is a catwalk
Some wolf whistle to themselves
Some hold their phone in both hands ‘cos what they’re like round here
Some words are dubbed
Some words are dreaded
Some do will not have their hands free where they are headed
Some wonder how much phone conversation is ever really needed
Some struggle to race their tax breaks over sleeping police
Some really laugh when cars kick right off
Some skip the strewn fox legacy thinking it might be nice to wear a watch
Some really care about the typeface
Some get up when they want ‘cept on Wednesdays
Some with headphones can’t walk the racing line
Some have no chance of performance enhancing
Some up for general classification
Some free bikes fell off the waggon

Some paint lines round corners
Some are dress-code complimentary
Some vend
Some flyer
Some are out of order
Some engineer
Some time
Some get the papers get the papers
Some mouths like beermats
Some warnings about smoking
Some hemline round gas works where it all feels a bit floaty
Some unpruned weeds and prune skin bare
Some tans
Some factors
Some like the fact the work’s being done it’s the swearing she can’t bear
Some shit in the woods
Some in the grip of cans
Some fortify the whining
Some books on the wall
Some mummy’s hand
Some short skirt salivate
Some never ever indicate

Some pass the half hour quickly but wish they had the right sort of Rizla
Some know the blinking habits of every crossing on this patch and forget the names of every street passed
Some wear flip flops
Some wear beats
No-one wears a decent hat
Some high five
Many high viz
Some genuinely don’t care if it rains but wish they hadn’t stepped in that
Some will never be called the space cowboy and are really fine with it
Some argue in the shop
Some can spare a little change
Some pretend to not
Some can’t recognise when it’s all over
and don’t know when to stop
Some can’t recognise when it’s all over
and don’t know when to stop
Some can’t recognise when it’s all over
and don’t know when to stop.

When We Fall We Thunder

In our black and tiresome writ,

our right to work kicks back,

aches our whack, takes 

our breath in seams. We’re grateful

temp’ry, to not death walk,

candle shrouded, brow-beat n’ punished.

On rotten beams as bones we lean,

‘til we’re back with brand tattoos 

on strong arms, raising the alarm

‘cos under brace or baton,

When we fall, we thunder. Beware.

Our dust gets bloody everywhere.

Into every home we creep,

where fires burn, heart yearning,

fair’s all we seek. Cough a pittance ‘to

handkerchiefs you’d mek us wave.  

Grave-faced cage-encased, we drop beneath.

For you are tall, tower o’er us all,

brag dissidence decreed.

For warmth n’ life n’ industry we bleed,

face with bare fists drawn, y’ever growing

dusk swords drawn. Believe,

When we fall, we thunder. Beware.

Our dust gets bloody everywhere.

Architect Gob

I wanna tell you;
Everything.
All I have to say.
But brick-house mouths,
Have no nuance, clout,
When they are
Built that way.

For Rafa (with the London Magpie Group)

Rafa
we sing with
voices hoarse
and forever
we’ll be singing.
Don’t say
your reign
has run
its course
when its only
just beginning.
¡Por favor quédate!

Baby Formula

Baby formula

The amount 

Another

Will struggle 

To live

Is equal

To the number 

Of fucks

I give