Restaurant

I'm disappeared to Saturdays recess
to golden curls on dark blue clouds
the thick chalk face of the waiter
peering down into the viscous pea soup

masks of age creeping like drought
cracking open homes for dust
nebulas of blood
bristle outward on a tissue
soak through to tear
a piece of me left to the toilet
outside complete silence

Greyhound Place.

my days that chip and fade away
faded down into the grey
exploring the corners of an empty bed
wrestled with withered words
so out of breath, the unrequited kiss
bends a ring of light through a bottles neck
in places where the sun wouldn't dare to rest

Queens Road.

Penelope flower lips, picturing burst clouds
in her head, Penelope exploded,
Penelope was born in a quiet room
ready to grow into a women who
would wear skirts with orchid prints
and cream reebok classics
who would disappear into her solitary room
and listen to her mothers records
and wish that she was Suzanne
who kept her nails clean, who would one day
fill her head with wilderness
and stick safety pins through feather stems
arrange them on the breast pocket of her leather jacket
and try in the floating dust to fly
blinded in the moon, dealing out her finger tips
to strangers and she's just a stranger
while surrendering to gravities severity
and what if I can never save her
what if I can never save myself
what if we're just grounded here for ever
dreaming our desires in cruel south eastern valleys,
virtue, vibrancy, what if we're the people we laughed
at when we were just kids with wallet chains
what if you're the cowgirl in the sand
what if I'm just the A13 holding
quiet towns together to the sea
what if it's just you and me?

Vending Machines.

you said "I love the way that you see me"
and I wonder when that changed?
In an elevator, looking back at my reflection
thinking I'd just touched something south of heaven
and I'm not much, no written accounts remain
of the route I took out through the car parks
when the skies let go of the rain

Bedroom

you're new hair that flows out with the old
touching light concealer across your face
your dresser is a cornucopia of cosmetics,
plastic fiber blusher brushes,
spread carefully as the golden frame
arching around the corners of the mirror
hold together to create you
but just know that to me you don't need it
you're all the beauty I could ever handle
underneath you eyeliner.

Divorcees

behind the patrician we're drinking
beer we stole from the front bar
cigarette butts by the fire escape
watching the stars
and they're fading, the dancers
came here in their frost covered saloons
spinning their bodies creased skin
drinking lime and tonic through straws
Tuesdays and Thursdays, sequins, satin and stereos
they dance in tandem strap up shoes
spinning through the rodeo requiem
and hell the dark haired, pin stripe shirt, middle man romeo
you got to wonder where they had their first drinks?
what their kids would say, pressing the hips
into the dark jeans and the dried skin on the lips
now their heading for the front door
out to the car park, into the backseat
melting the windows in the heat

Temple

to the great temple they clamber
black specks sullying the white stone concourse
glass towers rise from the ground like teeth
gnawing at the clouds
on and on they flood the reception areas
the elevators, the static carpets crackle
beneath black leather and rubber
here like the bowls of a viking armada
keyboards as oars, roaring through the
ocean spray of outboxes
the storm clouds of lunchtime meetings
and the inevitable death of the day
the sun sliding past west facing windows
God clocking out sighing.

Work.

old couples on yellowing plastic chairs

the heat of the griddle dull on my face

a quiet meeting of bottles, drinks cans

restocking the freezers in a stained apron

a glass causeway above the market stalls

peppered with garish advertisements

homeless men with accordions

play the notes of the winds that swept them here

blue ink on paper receipts, smudged in purses

the nauseous smell of beef slowly cooking

thick and bulbous in the broth

I lose the time and smile across the counter