the maker
the deal is
skinned
if you want to
say it
but whatever / say it / with meaning
private lessons in persuasiveness
don’t come cheap
you scribble in a church / a river /
locals at a golf course / a plaza
some hotheads perform like sheep
I watch them change /
you change
this town lives on a damaged decorative hill
refugees steal boxes
for rooms for cardboard caves / to sleep in
the battle on the outside
has come inside
and no one’s resisting
no one’s shutting gates
refugees steal cardboard boxes
to pray in
hide in
to live out their tenures
you accept the change
money talks
machetes talk
our songs are the same
the shit’s the same
say it with meaning
accept the maker’s head on a plate
for what you want
a word from him doesn’t come cheap
a word lasts a day
then gets immured in wood or clay or stone depending …
on who you think you are you were you could be
depends (being the operative action)
you take pleasure in crushing bugs
kicking in the skulls of thine foes
parading pigs for people
but that’s fine I watch proceedings
on how you respond like a brother / where the farms start
and the roads peter out
whether to accept the much-handled talk of the town
to venerate something which has lost its eyes /
ears / its showman’s glitz
say mum’s the word / not on your bloody nelly /
bottom’s up
say nothing
I swivel the half mounted
half paid-for bastard around
there won’t be much left after summer’s transparency /
it’s clear-filtered breathing /
to make this story any fancier
stars hang tall
and swivel when called
<>
a walk in the park is as good as booked
despite the weather the storm the clock’s
changing looks
there won’t be much left after the evidence is washed away
the night flowers topped
neon tapestries switched off
<>
of note
a fountain / a statue / the growth pains
of lawns / defrocked affectations
the deeper to midnight on wheels
the more light there seems
the more visible you become
<>
I partake of whispers of family incorporated
you pass around a dossier on
who’s to blame for the deliberate persecution of thieves /
lovers / of farmers who kiss cattle
<>
you settle
old scores
shift the mosaic chips of this summer’s workshop
on deciphering aberrations
communal weaknesses
I make do with chucking dice
I make do with superstition
by numbers
you watch as I watch
as we suddenly scramble
living
in the skin trade
ain’t easy
I’m never sure who’s coming
at any given moment
the fact is
you do it better
you’re organically more prepared
to slip into your studio wardrobe
flash your Hollywood hair
your halo on / / halo off
dispatch voices meditate on a poppy
#
I stay in contact
hands close
/ too close
altering appearances depends on the weather
the day’s mood the codeines taken
and all that mumbo jumbo of hills on the move
the sea sucking in its breath
populations grabbing at splinters of belief
#
I’ve taken to hiring and firing
first impressions are important
an invitation to model in the starkers
isn’t to be scoffed at
#
alone
blank-visioned
you pose slightly angled
your eyes / lips / chin / orifices washed and
labelled for inducement
a nose-to-arse knowledge
of introduction
this morning is about
what you’d like to do after breakfast
I take off my jacket / you put it on
I take it off
this morning’s about
practising roughly what you prefer
you come to me via an empty room
and a child dressed up like Marilyn
holds open the door
Oystercatcher Press (UK) published Iain Britton's 3rd poetry collection in 2009. Kilmog Press (NZ) published his 4th in 2010. The Red Ceilings Press (UK) published an ebook "Ten Poems" last year and an Argotist Ebook "songlines" has come online this year. Forthcoming full collection with Lapwing Publications ("druidic approaches") is due out in the UK now, plus a pamphlet from Like This Press in August. Beard of Bees (US) and Greendoor Publishing (AUST) will be publishing chapbooks soon too.
