Labi Siffre - Into The Light

the fourth right estate

Sheep Attack Big Cat!
bleats the headline

serves it right i say
‘bout time those fat felines
got their just deserts

can’t wait to read Worm
Drags Bird
To Early Death!

that’s the kind of news
i expect from a fair
and balanced
unbiased
press
___

Continuum

the body aches
the morning takes charge
there is an alternative still
unconvinced i remain

the failures of yesterday as usual
spur me to similar efforts greater
or less by nano-degrees time
corrosion extremities wither yet

there is some reptilian element
new growth continues i note even at this
late stage a recent scan confirming a good
deal of my brain remains

“knock knock” almost immediately i don’t
“who’s there?” i no longer play the game no
fake surprise this door is never locked the driver
lets himself in and lays by my acquiescence
the two cards; one to the back of each of my hands

they sink in to increasingly wrinkled flesh
initiating a whirring of gears a whoosh
of pistons i remain embarrassingly analogue
and lurch by days with less and less grace
naked from the duvet’s touch and pad to the
lower levels somehow dressing gowned
to make the first words
___

Nothing personal

kill the dog!
you fucking satyr!
ladies’ man!

sorry girls
it just won’t fly
guess it’s back to

kill the bitch!
you fucking whore!
and nympho!

but don’t get uptight
it’s a free market thing
just democracy you know
the natural economy
the people getting
what the people want
___

Rejoice you’re saviour has come

One tyrannical despot defeats
Another tyrannical despot

Rejoice
Bow your head
Sink to your knees
Prostrate yourself press
Your lips to the dirt
Feel the booted foot
Firm
On your neck
Be grateful

It is lighter than previous
Booted feet there; and this
The most you can expect
___

494 stroke 731: begin

Is that a real future they’re driving into
Or a graphic a painting a back dropped effect

is that a real road movie moving them
is the line down the middle
a true division

is this ink or light waves or polychroms i scribe
with; is this my hand or the hand of
someone I never knew

is this this
or something representing this; I assume
that

__

Yo mamma

Women be scum
That must be so
Why else do hetero men
Have nothin but contempt for dem

They be nothin but skets ‘n bitches
‘N hoes ‘n slags ‘n slappers fit only
To parade their tits ‘n cunts ‘n butts
Ahangin out or be clothed to invisibility

From sky to floor so contemptible is
Anything femi9 that when miss-
Perceived in a man he be better dead
Killed in the worsest possible way

I guess that’s like in jail the fucker
Remains a red blooded male it only
The raped battyboy fuckee who, allah
Be praised, be a fag

_{Q: What is the judgment on sodomy and lesbianism?}

_{A: Forbidden. Those involved in the act should be punished. In fact, sodomites should be killed in the worst manner possible.
... Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the supreme religious authority of Shiite Iraq (repeatedly praised by Coalition officials for his moderate views).
___}

of what use be poetry?

a car
can be
useful as
a door stop
a jelly mould
an elephant’s
foot stool, an umbrella
in wet weather especially
for the well bicep-ted but i
guess more useful on the bene
ficial side if you learn to drive, or ride
___

common sense

Democratically elected politicians are not averse to lubricating with flattery in their dealings with the electorate. They often call upon, and state an admiration for, the common sense of the people in whichever country they hope to gain or retain power.

Personally, I wish there was more un-common sense at play. However, in the matter of Iran’s quest for nuclear power and it’s possible (though common sense might say “probable”) quest for nuclear weapons; common sense insists that, though unwelcome in the political arena, ethics, in this case fair play, is involved in any rational overview.

The importance of this ethical nuance is rare, verging on absent, in media examination of the issue. The aspect in question is this: If it’s OK for India to have the bomb and OK for Pakistan (a fountain of “terrorism”) to have the bomb and OK for Israel, with the connivance of the west, to have the bomb (and other WMDs?) why can’t the Iranians have the bomb?

When “the international community” places neon lit double standards at the summit of their policy mountain, while posturing on a moral high ground soap box, common sense impedes my support and, I suspect, the support of others.

I, from the democratic west,  don’t want theocratic Iran to have the bomb. I don’t like the regime. I don’t respect the regime. I don’t trust the regime. But in light of the west’s double standards (primarily in regards to Israel’s nuclear arsenal) if I was Iranian, I would take no notice of me, the USA, Britain, the UN nor of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Of course, in the event that we take military action against Iran in this matter, common sense and common decency should (but won’t) prevent us from wrapping ourselves, with an air of gravitas, in that tattered, musty, dangerously infected cloak of moral respectability.

Common sense aside, facts exist. One of them is, that no matter how resolutely we avoid looking backwards; and no matter how fast we “move forward” – as ever, history persists in keeping pace here and now, resolutely beside us.
___

the visionary

if i am
my own reflexion
who, in the mirror, do i see

if not, some wag will rightly ask,
what sentience lurks
behind the glass
___

if i am
my own reflexion
who, in the mirror, do i see

if not, some wag will rightly ask,
what sentience lurks
behind the glass
___

fast food thinking

can it last – the universe won’t - she is three
hundred pounds of fat i reckon five foot six; he
near thirty still looks fresh (though tired) and
young and slim enough to attract your average
wandering lust or loneliness or love in need
– only cowardice condemns creatures
for loneliness – how will she
keep his inter-est

his hands on her; does he love enough
does he love her that much; could it be
he’s a feeder, a chub lover perhaps
her dependence on him, his confidence that
she could never find anyone else to love
“her” as she is, is that part of it –
can there be unacceptable reasons
for love: careful, you (just) might have
to define the word

dodo-like, junior wobbles in mamma’s fatsteps
and he and her do most of the talking and much
laughing; they happy together and mister is
quiet, elsewhere(?) at ease, relaxed to be
and have family, to belong or simply
planning to be gone

or is all three hundred pounds of fat-she the
alpha actor here and he dependent on her
love; meanwhile
they three have sodas, garlic bread and two
large pizzas to conquer - i think – and cleary
enough is not nearly enough
___