All The Lovely Books

All the Lovely Books.

All the lovely books

give me black looks

as if to say,

you’re so hard to read

these days,

once you turned

to us always,

but now you

barely look.

Uh Oh

When the lights came on,

she strode straight up to us

from three seats along.

arms folded, brimstone eyes,

and said,

I want to take a good hard look

at you two

so I know never to sit by you

in a cinema

again !

*pic courtesy of pinterest

Third Bite of the Cherry

The ibises have moved along

have gone upmarket

grubbing in the well manicured lawns

of Davis Court.

Something needs to be done.

They look more dowdy than ever.

Reminds me of the time

in the Adelaide Central Market

during an upgrade

when the benches inside Coles supermarket

where I used to wait for my paraplegic friend

to do his shopping

were all suddenly removed;

What the &^%$$%, we all said,

our little community of bench people.

When approached,

management see – sawed for a while

but after constant badgering

a junior manager not yet used to the ropes

of sidestepping,

admitted — wait for it —

the benches were removed to keep

the riff-raff out

Something in the Air

I don’t like the look of them

these runaways

the way they huddle darkly

in alleys,

in vacant lots amongst

the runtish grass

with their hangdog faces

and surly looks

they’re up to something

but if you edge closer to eavesdrop

they clam up

look at you with bloodshot

insolent eyes

what have they been drinking

smoking?

perhaps they are planning

a revolution

against their colonial masters

the supermarkets.

Rags

  *

Reckless rags

ripped

by storm;

ragamuffin clouds

lounging about

like homeless people;

dark, moody

noses sniffling

with drizzle;

a hard, cold

night.

The Most Selfish Man

You are the most selfish man

in the world,

my Friday friend called me

some years ago.

Whoa! Big call, I said

as he stormed off

with his teacup.

• pic by Wickedly Lovely, pinterest

My Bad-Ass Phone Call

 
Maybe I shouldn’t have made it but

the fish was under-cooked.

That apprentice! D said. I’ll haul him

over the coals.

have his guts for garters.

He’s overstepped the mark this time.

Don’t go too hard on him, I say.

He has a good heart.

A good heart doesn’t cut it in this

business, he said,

I’ll flay him alive.

It won’t happen again.

The next lot is on me.

And he hung up.

I know he was playing it up a bit.

Still, it would be good to see Jarrod

at the grill next week

in one piece.
 
 
 

She Knows How to Make You Feel small

She knows how to make you feel small

loudly with-holding favours

she bestows on all

She makes you wait till the very last minute

then tends to you

but there’s not much love in it

She doesn’t brook criticism, praise

& rejects the crawl

she’ll squash you like a snail you’re so small

Her kind multiplies in prisons, offices,

re-education camps

to some she’s a monster, others a champ

pic ourtesy of Pinterest by behanc.net

Last Night was Brutal

Last night was brutal.

We fought like Godzilla vs Kong.

Boxers slugging it out in the ring.

Cage fighters gouging and kicking.

Oooops. Is that an eyeball in my hand?

We were earnest. Furious.

Mean as gorillas. Cut-throat as pirates.

In the end we smoked the peacepipe.

What was that all about? she asked..

I don’t know, I said.

Look, next time, can we please agree what we’re fighting about?

• pic courtesy of maxsportstz.blogspot.com

I Am Not Chernobyl

I am not Chernobyl.

Not Three Mile Island.

I am not about to have a meltdown.

That steam coming out of my ears? That?

Just me letting some of the pressure out.

That growl?

Don’t worry. It’s worse than its bite.

That string of expletives I’m about to utter?

Just my inner Tourette’s airing its dirty laundry.

. A meltdowm? Nah. Now what is it you’ve been trying to tell me?

*pic courtesy of Pinterest