and we’re unsafe at any speed …

which means we have to stand quite still and face

the hard, inclement weather. After a word

like like

the storm goes on forever.

79

The Smile

hates the simile which is

always stealing its thunder –

boom it goes, boom, and makes

us smile, the way it enters the room

the way the thunder doesn’t. We came

in here in fact to escape the noise.

First we lay on the bed together,

then crawled right under,

and then your father broke down the door.

Yes, we’ve all been here before.

Someone has just now told

their favourite joke and the room

goes quiet and shifty, no one smiles.

I mean you really have to wonder, all

the girls and boys with old guitars

somehow singing together, unaware

of the man who lifts his gun

and points it at us now forever.

Maybe the smile will pop up

somewhere else. It might just wait

outside the house till someone’s home

to let it in. It’s such a pussycat.

It might enjoy a gentle kiss,

it might prefer a fireside nap.

If we are like we think we are,

that is.

80

Wow

Big brother

says also but the baby always says wow,

though soon enough she too is saying also

and listening to her father say later,

and to the way her mother sighs and says

now would also be a very good time.

The ghost would love to say also

but cannot actually say anything

aside from that quiet whooshing sound,

and now there are babies everywhere

all saying wow for a time, and the children grow,

and the children grow, and the wife

goes off for a bit of a break

and never comes back. Also the lawn gets away on him.

One thing after another.

Now the old fellow wants his bed sheets changed.

No one the fuck to do it!

Also the nappies they make him wear!

Also he wants an apple, and new teeth to eat it.

But in this place where he has recently landed,

which is where he has always been,

every day is day-after-day

so you cannot have everything,

the whole lot has to be later.81

Listen hard now to how we all say goodbye

and maybe and wait-just-a-minute,

not hearing the world say back to us wow.

There’s not much difference in it.

In this way you will get to hear

his very last sigh – the sound of a plane

powering down when it reaches the gate,

and all of us getting to our feet.

82

Polly

End of the day. A bar where you ought to leave a tip.

The green bird was saying pretty pretty pretty,

loved ones were walking home across the city.

I waved at the girl who waves her whip …

but please know I’m a citizen …

I take stuff to the dump … or maybe it’s the tip?

I’m where the nitty really meets the gritty.