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1. |
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A morsel of fresh earth upon the lips of the dead
Which stimulates and yet eludes my fear
Is placed with care and comfort as I occupy this bed
And everything around is far and near
I’m earnest in disease
I celebrate my needs
You’re seeking to assist
In things that will be noticed
Mistakes are made that life is what I should be reaching for
Such thoughts dissolve into the earth
But earth and dirt and soil and soil alike may share rapport
And illness and its stillness give me birth
I’m earnest in disease
I celebrate my needs
You’re seeking to make clear
The things that bring me fear
As pleasant as the blood which springs from unattended wounds
Your words revive my needs as I unfold
My body out upon the slab with such a graceful swoon
To still my beating heart, to make it bold
I’m earnest in disease
I celebrate my needs
You’re seeking to assist
In things that will be noticed
The earth, I feel it surge and swell itself without these walls
And find my body lying in the garden
And further still, into the earth, but back there in the hall
You move and movements always are forgotten
I’m earnest in disease
I celebrate my needs
You’re seeking to make clear
The things that bring me fear
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2. |
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He lacked the way
Pre-emptive grave
Found use for things
That we could never say
He harboured grief
Had neither branch nor leaf
Was eaten up by animals
And there he found relief
He stuttered hard
Collapsed into your car
Partly in the footwell
Partly out the door, ajar
He then stayed silent
Reputed to be violent
Scraped, ignored and so on
Face resting on the pavement
Car keys
Passenger seat
Dead man circling
Handbrake
Indicate
Dead man circling
He represented haste
And misused waste
And all the other fleeting things
That people failed to taste
He was always vaguely flailing
And very quietly railing
Against the things that are left behind
By us, the never failing
He comes up short
Always lacking retort
Then slumps again into the stance
That we would never court
He’s found always sideways
And sinking beneath most days
A mess of rags and fallen flags
Well beneath your gaze
Safety lock
Check the clock
Dead man circling
Seat belt
Tremor felt
Dead man circling
He has a shave
And crawls out from his grave
And sits up straight in the driver’s seat
So easily saved
You turn your back
And do not once look back
And soon enough just two small steps
Will put you on track
You lift a leg
To kick him back to bed
Then hesitate and move away
He is already dead
He slips into your skin
And flexes within
And very soon in unity
You both continue in
Intuition
Ignition
Dead man circling
Shiver
Mirror
Dead man circling
Seat position
Penetration
Dead man circling
Emergency stop
Dead drop
Dead man circling
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3. |
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When he fell into the welcoming ditch
There was nothing beside him
When he looked up at the grey, drizzled sky
There was nothing that could have reminded him
When he tried to account for his position
His actions displaced him
When he sought to describe his location
His interests erased him
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4. |
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The roaring in your mind roars on
The pennies in your pocket have gone
The sense of well-being that your system neglected
Alights instead upon a distance, well-protected
What do you see in an instant?
Images of bodies that your mind kept
What did you feel when your nerve went?
Actions that remained unrepentantly repentant
Bleat, beep
What did you cut out from behind the glass?
Nothing, of course
You go out to the old mine shaft
At Cemetery Tropicana
You look up and it all ends suddenly at the sky
What is it that defies revision?
Words and a simple movement
What was it that you heard behind Joy Division?
Just a simple movement
A simple, human movement
Bleat, beep
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5. |
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The hotel sign is smashed
And your trousers are covered in ash
As you watch the settling of water
And the scabs on your hands
Are not part of your higher plan
And you wish that this stage would be over
Oh no
Leave it all alone
Nothing is gained through rumination
But consider the gaps
That this life always lacks
How can we ever find our station?
Our true station
Our one true station
The knots in the wood
Resemble eyes more than they should
As you wonder again at your health
And you consider again
Whether making your claim
Should be done via honesty or by stealth
Oh no
Leave it all alone
Nothing is gained through rumination
But consider the gaps
That this life always lacks
How can we ever find our station?
Our stationary station
Our one true station
The gains that are lost
The depth of the cost
Can never be properly evaluated
The height from which you fell
The sweetness of the smell
Will never again be recreated
Oh no
Leave it all alone
Nothing is gained through rumination
But consider the gaps
That this life always lacks
How can we ever find our station?
Our stationary station
Our complimentary station
Our one true station
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6. |
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Hello, meek mortal
I've come to unblock your portal
Meat from my finger
Rising through the mire
Try to pick a way through
All those things that you used to do
Try to greet an unwholesome night
As though it were some form of respite
I'm changing
I was always there
Say what's plain sailing
And waive what's remaining
I don't know anyone
On the telephone anymore
Thirsty and moreish
A soft, systemic breeze
Did it cut you deep?
Or did it leave you free?
I'm changing
I was always there
Close your head
To the living and the dead
Wash your exoskeleton
And watch my exultation
Something to see your clothes through
Or something that you used to do
Remain apart
In your cloistered heart
Pull back the sheet
I'm changing
I was always there
I was always changing
I was always there
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7. |
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Converted ground floor flat
Northern voice seems to be
Coming out of a guitar
Did this become known later?
Tall toilet room
Remnants of a German mathematician
Stuck to the wall
Don’t open the curtains
I might go to the petrol station later
Blue carrier bag
Of broken glass and leaked red wine
Why didn’t you go back and get some more?
Play it slower
It smashed on the floor in the phone box
Try putting the flanger on the amp
His pod is burning up
Don’t go to the door
The coffee slops on the table
You’ll damage your throat
But that was later
Ramar House
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8. |
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He was lying asleep on the riverbank
When they took away his clothes
So he was compelled to walk home naked
Along the open road
That was when they set their dogs on him
And though he tried to run
They left him face-down in the hedge
Blistering in the sun
When he came to in the evening
Some lout was trying to bugger him
He deftly threw the lout aside
And with hands alone he smothered him
He resumed his walk along the road
But did not get very far
As in the dark of that summer night
He was mown down by a car
There is no moral to this story
And nor should you think that there should be
And, furthermore, de Sade was wrong
Just as he intended to be
Sometimes bad defeats the good
But more often defeats the indifferent
And the fact is that this innocent man
Was not even existent
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9. |
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Why do you listen so intently at that door?
Do you hope to hear a sound from beyond it
That will indicate to you
That there is a chance
That blame could be apportioned to
Someone other than yourself?
Listen to me for a moment
I intend to make you understand
That the fault is yours entirely
But also that
This is not the whole story
Events, yes, there’s more, events
Will conspire against you
No matter what you do
Some would say
That there is no point in trying to control
Or even to contribute to them
But I do not agree
Everything has an effect
We can alter the conspiracy
Repeatedly and relentlessly
Changing events at every moment
Still, they remain a mess
I hope that this address
Has been of some benefit
To you
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10. |
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Lost and riven
Blistered upon
Gut-swell meds
Displaced and hovered
A borrowed moral
Mottled and bold
Blind knuckles
Done with beating the ground
Listing Instincts
Suppress both house and tree
Limpets on limpets
Thirty years of fish
And through
Gout-bound teaching
When the dead are at war with the living
It's so easy to rot
The streets are lined with demons
Seething through cloud
Definitions of bliss
Or this; this
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