Monday, November 17, 2014

Memoria ex a Poeta


Looking out over the green acres
The water spouts washing the nameplates
And feeding the verdant pasture
The tree line the road giving little shade to the grave stones
This cemetery the last resting place of so many
Bred to feed the machine, the bureaucratic factory
Keeping the wheels of a dying industrial age alive
There will be one person buried in the hole, dug during a rainstorm
Reserved for a chef of words
A poet.
Lost in a corner beneath a dying rose bush
The name almost eroded away on the green colored brass plate
But his words, thoughts and ideas live on
In the self published anthology
Now sold in a used bookstore
To be bought, read and misunderstood
By a woman who devours poetry like an elephant consumes fruit
Tossed on a pile of other books like a dirty pair of her ex-husband underpants
The words saved by her fluffy white poodle pitbull mix
Who after being shouted at grabs the book in his mouth and runs into the street
Poetry always needs a good home and Andre a student of literature picks it up
From where it was deposited next to the dog’s favorite lamppost
Opened regularly and read aloud, the poet’s works is heard by all who are present
A new generation listen to the words of a long ago dead unknown poet.








Great Malvern


It was middle earth
A town beneath the hills
Once famous for its curing water and enigma persona
Sitting on the north flank to view
The valley spread like a Victorian tablecloth
The wind from the north smelling of hops
Ready to be picked for the local brew
The town awakes amongst the clouds of rain
Damp and dismal making the painter see shades of grey
Above the music shop in St. Celica Hall
The piano turner pucks at an old baby grand
Once long ago the composer so pomp and circumspect
Composed grand music in his garden shed called London
While old ladies gathered in the Blue Bird tea room
For morning coffee and local gossip
The public school children in uniforms strict
Raced from college to St. Ann’s Well
There to meet a suitor
A future lord or lady of this aristocratic land
Memories of wartime excellence
Of a college electronic viewed by radar
Lady Windermere fans her face
At the theatre where Shaw and Shakespeare regularly played
But it was the music floating high above the hills
That makes this town, its hills, its people my early life

Life without parole


I am but a prisoner in misery
Pain within and pain without
A struggle to defend my fragile body
To fight that which is unseen deep beneath my skin
No one heard the cries of violence taking place
If there was someone to listen to the tears falling on my heart
I was a survivor and once again I am the victor
The blame lays by my side a dark and visible monster
I see in the nightmare of my day
There is no St George to fight my dragon
No magic patch to cure my ills
I am what I am, a prisoner trapped
Hanging by my own noose
Condemned by my wicked life, loveless and empty

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Cannon Folder Blues


My trembling lips speak of lies
Fostered in the ideology of extreme believers
Their hate-filled passion, the propaganda of the controlled media
The truth has no place
It is the fear they peddle, convincing the people that their lives are in danger
The fear that the rest of the world’s population will move in next door
Their religion, ideology imposed
The fear that an epidemic of a dangerous disease is just a handshake away
While they hike the price of essential drugs to cure
The fear that unless you vote for them you are doomed to poverty
Playing on your want of security of a job and home
Security that mind and body won’t be blown up by international or home grown terrorists
Security that our food, water and air hasn’t been contaminated
By fracking, pesticides or airplane spraying
Alas we are all cowards to stand up and fight this bureaucratic bullying
Our cowardice stops us from asking questions
Demanding answers
Revolution is not an option, complacency the natural order
As a government secret service agency will infiltrate the just cause
Bringing our human rights to an early grave
And those who blow the whistle a prison cell
Listening to our every conversation, reading our private emails
Even though we had deleted them
Tracking our research and selling our desires to their corporate pay masters
The battle never started, the war never begun
It's what we were born for
Slaves to the parasite ruled society

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The Apologist



I'm sorry
For making my ex-wife loose
Her false teeth down the toilet
I'm sorry
She had to fish them out herself
Ruining her new dress
I'm sorry
Her mother’s car ran down the hill
I thought I'd put the handbrake on
I'm sorry
It cost so much to repair the damage
To the other cars
I'm sorry
The house burnt down after I left
I never realized the vase acted as a magnifying glass
I'm sorry
Her priceless dresses by Christian D'ior
Went up in smoke
I'm sorry
The burglars broke into the house
And took everything that wasn't burnt
I'm sorry
Her precious cats ran away
Only to be killed by the fire engine
I'm sorry
The tropical fishes boiled
And later were eaten by the rats
I'm sorry
I ever married her
But I glad I divorced her.

Monday, October 27, 2014

Three steps and the wrong turn


Los Angeles below
Spread like a giant tablecloth crumpled at the edges
The smog filled wind gentle flew past me on the fifty fifth floor
The roof
It only took three steps to fly like a bird
Floating like a rock
Falling I watch as the corporate world
Floor by floor circumvent me
JJ Lewinsky fawning over his secretary
Petersen playing computer solitaire
While pretending to be on a conference call
Forty sixth floor and another coffee break
I wonder what will it be like as I hit the ground
Instant or will the pain radiate
Will my image be imprinted for all eternity on the sidewalk
Has my life been fruitful
Hey! There’s Parkin-Bowles transfixed at his window
Thinking he is seeing an angel, a sign to sell some obscure stock
Before the market closes
Fortieth floor Jenkins from legal moons me
As he photocopies his large white butt
To show some young intern in the hope of a sexual tryst
Thirty seventh and Miss Ruthie cleans her window
The daily ritual of her obsessive-compulsive behavior
She really needs to get a life
Thirty fourth young Potter in accounting
Trying to chat up Wendy Malloy
Hoping for a date to win his bet with his homies
The ground suddenly seems much closer
A bird fly’s towards me then dives towards the group of tourists below
Twenty eight floor inside Trevor Gooding is trying to hang himself
After another bad day of trading in foreign currency
Twenty first, strange to see an empty floor
Air conditioning ducks hang with cable of every color from the open ceiling
Like me the thirties flew by with no significant memories
Gosh! I hope I miss that metal sculpture
Perris Agies’s David in Aluminum
The floors pass slowly now, as I look in each window
I see their faces, shocked, surprised, ginning, even laughing
And the occasional blank face.
Only ten floor to go
And my inner self will be exposed for all the world to see
I came into this world with nothing to hide
I leave it ditto
As the ground gets closer, the fog of a bad night sleep
Surrounds me, and I awake the panic attack is over
My first day as chief executive officer begins.

Long Hair


Of course you want babies like all your friends
Only I will be the one babysitting
While you dance out the night
With married men who woke up that morning
To find they had married their mother
To divert to the Shangri La night club
To try and get their leg over a piece of easy
To find themselves confronted by you and
Your gaggle of girls
Who only want him to spend his cash
On their expenses drinks and sniffing coke
For a quick grope of their tits
And a little arse slapping
You arrive home a little tipsy
Creep into the bedroom and undress
To find you are missing your wonder bra
Sliding into our king size bed
Smelling of stale alcohol and cigarette smoke
I wake and ask if you had a good night
Yes you reply just me and the girls
Not knowing that in the morning
You will have to hide the hickey on you pearl white neck
With layersof foundation cream
Oh have you will wish you still had long hair

Just a cup of tea



You know you have reached rock bottom
When your life is like the spokes of a bicycle wheel
Forty threads radiating our from the core of you
Each thin strand dysfunctional of your fragile existence
To a watching world
All it takes is a branch or drum stick to unbalance your eco system of life
The along comes a repairman
A do-gooder trying to get into heaven
He offers you a quick fix if you sing his song
And contribute to lavish life style
At first you accept, well you can’t go any lower
But then you see the small print hidden behind
The glossy pictures of the current instant messiah
You find yourself wandering the lonely streets
Filled with grey houses, even the stray dogs have deserted your space
You lay your head on the stone step of the towns closed orphanage
Wishing you were a child and they would take you in.
As the red moon drifts across the night sky.
You dreams of food and feathers
The food to fill your empty belly so the pain is over
The feathers to fill a bed for you sink into
The reality of a cold wet step breaks the pleasantries of the night dreams
The neighborhood dog annoyed of your presence marks his territory
You wake from the aroma foul eating away inside your nostrils
The dog of unknown parentage looks pathetically at you as though it has done nothing wrong
It is then you seethe light
A star above a garage
You hobble towards it, the holy family,
A new baby could be waiting wrapped in grease and oil stain blanket
Do-gooders are back giving away soup and sandwiches 
Your stomach filled a warm feeling emits from within
A young man offers you a hot cup of tea
His face familiar, his smile awakening
“Dad”, the words slip from his mouth
In the darkness of the garage he hugs you, not letting go
The home you seek has found you
The family you lost regained
You were just looking in the wrong place.




Less we forget


I weep for those who visit the National Cemetery to remember the fallen
They are not a few but many
The shame and blame must be on those who sent the young to war
To fight the battles for corporate interests
So the rich son’s can continue their Ivy League education
Then become the pillars of finance and commerce
While the son’s of the middle class
Are lured by a better life and a free education
These are the war hero’s, who use modern technology
To suppress obsessed religious warriors
In the dry hot desert of Iraq, or the barren hills of Afghanistan
These boys to men dodged the sniper, the roadside bombs
Only to return home with missing limbs
Or in a flag draped body bag
We should revolt against the power that be and demand peace and freedom
Tell them if they want to play war then buy an XBox 360
And to remember that each life lost
On the worlds multitude of battle fields
Is some ones child, a husband, a father
And the politicians don’t have the right to play God with other peoples lives.




The dawn of reality


My blood pressure rises as I think about the politicians
Those corrupt men and women
In Washington, Sacramento and other cities
Lining their pockets with bribes from corporate lobbyists
To vote in favor of industrial destroyers of our planet
Is there no one who can stand up and be honest
What happened to the truth we the people expect
Shall we continue in ignorance of what is really happening
While those who have power over us
Rewrite history to fulfill their family dynasties
And the dreams of a demented few
One vote for one man means nothing
Not even counting the mail in vote
Unless it is followed by financial endorsement
Can the working man on minimum wage pay the piper
Even a revolution won’t change the status quo 
For without the dollar you and I are nothing more than cannon fodder
Made ready for the next CIA created war
The human shields of corporate states
Where democracy lies beneath the rubble of the republic
My allegiance is to the child who see that the rich emperor
The talentless television celebrity who has no clothes but an expensive veneer
To hide the truth, the media distraction
To become the puppets for the ruling masters
We cannot fight to win
Only resist until all our energy is taken from us, by the state police
On January 20 1981 at 11:57am the old world died
Our freedom and destiny was buried 
When they obscured the truth and the American flag was draped
Across the window of the world


Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Language Barrier


The disheveled man
His stained shirt sticking out
Of his ten sizes to big trousers
One shoe on, One shoe off
Stood facing the wall

His argument with the wall
Was a philosophical one
The wall ignored him
Even worse
The wall would not look at him

To passers by it seemed unbelievable
A man talking to a wall
And the wall wouldn't talk back
A crowd gathered
For the afternoon entertainment

No one could understand
What the man wanted the wall to say
Impatience grew to anger in the man
As obscenities spouted from his mouth
And still the wall said nothing

After an hour, and the crowd grew
A woman in red said the man was crazy
An office worker uttered the man must be psycho
But all agreed he wasn't normal
To shout at a wall
Never raising your voice, always got you a retort

It wasn't until the little boy pushed
His way to the front of the crowd
That reality returned
In his high pitch voice
The boy said to the hushed crowd
The wall didn't answer
Because it didn't speak English

As the crowd dispersed
A few spoke to the solid wall
In their native tongues
But there was no reply
And the shouting man was left alone
To hollow and rant
At a wall that didn't speak
Any known language.

Tonight my love


Last night you called me a sexist
An Anti-feminist
Because I didn't say goodnight
Well tonight my love
I will show you
Who's the sexist
Don't expect me to pay for dinner
Even stand when you approach the table
I won't open the door for you
Step aside to let you go first
Tonight my love
I will treat you as my equal
I'll even call you a pig
Tonight my love,
I want you to kiss me goodnight
And I will call you names if you don't
For tonight we will start this relationship
As though we are married.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Bill And Mary




Bill And Mary




Bill and Mary were married, last Saturday.
The whole town came to see.
Now all that's left are
memories and that bottle with its
contents of confetti.
Collected by a small child,
who lives in future fantasy.

Bill and Mary may never
see that bottle or its contents of confetti,
They may, if some kind soul tells them,
hear of a small child who bottled their one and only day.
But I doubt it.

What the future holds for
Bill and Mary,
May be in that bottle
among its contents of confetti.
And yet it may have been washed down the drain.
A child can only collect so many memories.


Copyright Edward Arno 1972