Month: July 2025

Billy?

her claim to fame was a well-known name

she’d fucked him as a courtesan

back in the time of Eminem

who don’t apologise

never explain

there’s no pain with

emotions ambered

in opiates

platinum cornsilk hair in plaits

china-blue eyes, red lips and latex

the perfect doll, with a past

the celluloid unease of her

tried and truly … too touché

while here, in reality

we hedge, we cheat

work our beat

never wanting to compete

sigh softly at our silly feats

and the men

invariably

fell

their tongues aslant

on heat

oh boys

why must you be

so utterly cheap

Photo by Harrison Kugler on Unsplash

Quiet

I don’t dream anymore

I sit and hold my shoulder

wait for the noise to end

when it does, my ears ring and

I gaslight myself, still it throbs

again, again

do I like the quiet

the sound of distant cars and ocean

invades my soul more sweet

than the motor noise of the

selfish pricks next door/ I don’t dream anymore

that reverb has eroded

my light, my joy

a sick trickle

of stale Jack Daniels

sour and tacky it

sniffs

in the back of my throat

an old injury

waiting to flare up

it could hurt me so good

it could, it could

but I don’t dream anymore so

maybe I’m safe

oh, the pain when it goes silent

and those whispers

of how to fight it

 

 

Photo: Claire Doble