We go to Ikea having taken
the road through the allotments
& the Park which dates back

to Victorian times.
Inside the store
we grab at rugs & bowls

lie on the beds
until someone frowns
at us & we leave to

sit in the restaurant
with Swedish apple cake
& coffee, reminiscing

of the road we used to take
on the M48 bus to the store
which was near Spandau

one of the earliest settlements of Berlin
where the first Slavs
settled & lived

& how we had
back then a family card
to give us free coffee


before it all fell apart

i.
I walk through the streets
of old Spandau
under a sky of slate and zinc
that lets loose its sleet
and drops of pale ink,
filled with burdened clouds
weary from hurrying onward
out of the iron east.

ii.
A church tower stands sentinel
watching over the people fleeing past
on cobbled streets paved with fate.

iii.
Once, to doubt was to believe
as Thomas, bereaved,
called out in awe
My Lord and my God.
Today there’s just doubts,
faith is fleeting as clouds.

iv.
The tower waits,
outwardly strong,
yet forlorn and alone,
abandoned by the faithful
as the sacred slips away.
It watches and waits
in hollow hope of a time
when its hallowed purpose
might yet be whole again.

There is no pity in Berlin,
a place of prickly wounded pride.

A city of angels
who fell like scars of lightning
from gunmetal grey skies.

I watch old silvered rolls of film
and see flying columns of seraphim
as they march on by
row upon row
eyes ablaze
flaming swords drawn
in a parody of paradise.
They descended into hell
and are seated
at the left hand of the Kaiser:
Gott mit uns.

This sullen scene of no regret
stains the present with the dead and past:
It fits the flinty nature
of the blunt Berliner
under the ashen skies of winter.

I trudge across a gravel path
in the bowels of Berlin,
hear the grinding crunch
of brittle bones below,
and gird myself for the grim winter ahead.

Do you remember that ride through the park in the landau
and we talked of that poor man
who was locked up in Spandau?
I didn't know then that prisons are made out out of tears
and in the passing of years
I have imprisoned myself
locked up my soul
and am just playing this role of a man.

Can you think back to the snack in the cafe
when all you wanted to say
was something to hurt
as if my blood wouldn't spurt when you cut me so deep
did you keep that moment for me
did you think I would be
in bits,decimated
you underestimated as you usually did
but you got rid of me
told me to go as if you only knew what the future would hold.

Well I'll tell you this,
the future is when you get calloused and old
when your stomach's so big you have to fold it in
and hold your tongue
the future's no fun but the fun that you had
at my expense
was expended in mortgages paid to those dowagers
how you have aged.
How I once raged at the iniquity
before I began to see
the light of what's right
and now in your night of the day that you had
are you happy or sad?
Do I care if you answer
does a moth love the flame?
it was never the same after you.

Partners
no crime,
innocents,

time served deserves
an extension

we pretend that others do not exist,
stare our way through each day
until we get home and
then it's the telephone and
the world is okay
but
I take a ride in the landau
listen to
Spandau
ballet
really?
yes,
it's just a matter of no fact at all.

Walk tall, mum said, as I hid under the bed,
always monsters to fight
wrongs to fix,
right?

nearly midnight and no Oasis
what's this,
music of the solo mind?

Walkman no talk man makes
Jack a bull dog or something
that hides in dark corners.

Still dozing my way through the
thoughts and each day
I am dozing
some more,
it's slightly not keyed in
the code is not right
the dots don't line up
or
it could be my eyesight.

'if you haven't got a penny a halfpenny will do'
then they decimalised the system and the
scheme fell through,

what about you?
do you collect stamps?
get cramps?
forget your name?

I am one of the same among many
cloned,
declawed even as I roared
my defiance and we should not
place any reliance on the material things
nor spirituality
punctuality
or any eventuality that eventually
will occur

share nothing
even thoughts have shadows that
show up in ultra violet light
wrong or am I right?

This is broadcast by the
'last of the Mohicans',

'should have kept my hair on,
white eyes speaks with forked tongue,
bet he
eats his peas with it'

thank God for madness
she is
the mistress of sanity
and
the goddess of poetry.

(.) - living in the times when,
all variants of the form of fiction,
whether in the medium
of movie, or books,
allows the reader,
or the viewer,
to become comfortable in
his or her sense of
the: predictable outcome,
predictable narrative
                     "cul de sacs"...
modern fiction
and oh: so many predictable
conclusions...
a micro-cosmos
of prophesy that always...
becomes... a faked...
         "cliff-hanger"...
poetry as rigid as
  a journalistic account...
                        scripted and safe...
this language could
be so much more,
       if it only allowed itself
to be harvested
by 1st time users,
        who were not born into
the shackles of 2nd time users...
those immigrant parents
who discarded their
mutterzunge...
   and...
   plain in sight...
the longing of their children,
whereby:
   english was
was never enough to begin
with,
but to live
with a psychic dissonance
matched-up
to the reality of, a time,
and this,
multi-cultural
claustrophic concept of space;
there's no point
asking me to be coherent...
better look for
a "sudoku" of rigid
paragraph rubrics,
coherent, mundane conversations
between characters:
which a schizophrenic
symptom can't even ascribe
a venture into theatre...
anna maria jopek: droga na południe
vs.
   simply red: holding back
the years
vs.
spandau ballet: true
vs.
    diana krall: peel me a grape
vs. sade: smooth operator...
****... ginger ninja all the time...
a nostalgia...
   that can only transcend
a craft of finding time in
a dismembered form of a painting...
and bad spelling...
or simply for the album stars...
sure, sure,
i'll make english the language
akin to a spiderweb...
as long as i am the spider
at its centre...
never to be usurped from my use
of it, by some censorship-*****
of a litigated presence
of also drown me in
    sea of silence...
   by scripting how i am
to imitate drowning
   with this: and every other
gargantuan gurgle of visible lettering;
side-ways up with
no immediate fetish for
  hierogylphs of egypt,
and the modern digital "egypt"...
like...
   i am looking for the modern
Rosetta stone...
     it began with :)
                                  and ended...
well... it never really ended...
   and...
music from back then...
it's not even nostalgia...
   apparently a soulless entity
like a.i. and a devil's dozen
of music producers,
can tap into writing art...
based upon the data of mood swings...
on the pure abstract of
chemical reaction basics
of the brain...
   memory... as far as i am
concerned...
   is in direct conflict with
the chemical workings of the brain...
of the brain in situ,
for whatever is the concerning
investigation...
of... getting your music
for free... bypassing the radio
medium...
sure...
             'ere you go...
go forth... and...
            perhaps... you can...
manage to multiply,
and if not? eh, no big loss.

Unforgiven

The house was surrounded by a tall wall that had broken glass on top
the gate was made of clunky ornamental iron and easy for a boy to negotiate
we did and took apples from his well-stocked garden.
The man had been a **** and was shunned by the public so in a way
Stealing from him made us feel quite heroic.
He, the owner, had constructed his own Spandau
Years later I peered through the fence the garden was overgrown
He sat on a bench looked up and smiled like he knew me, he had paid
a heavy prize for being politically wrong.

When all the hair was long and big.
The girls and the boys.
When Aqua net filled the air night and day and boom boxes were carried around to crank our favorite tunes.

When Europe introduced the Final Countdown.
A mantra for many a relationship.

When Tommy Tutone had everyone,
everyone dialing 867-5309.
And still dialing 867-5309 when they hear the song again.

When Loverboy had everyone "Working for the weekend."

When Rick Springfield had us all talking about "Jessie's girl" but also reminded us to never "Talk to strangers".

A time when Led Zeppelin had us "Dazed and confused" while on a "Stairway to heaven".

When Guns'n'Roses "Welcomed everyone to the jungle" like it was a "Paradise city".

A time when Twisted Sister asked, "What do you wanna do with your life" ? And we all said - "I wanna rock" !

Remember the time when "Mommy was just jealous of the Beastie boys".

Or-

When Van Halen "Erupted" because they were "Hot for teacher" and had us all "Dancing in the streets".

A time when Devo wanted you to "Whip it" good.

When Thomas Dolby "Blinded all with science".

A time when Michael Jackson wanted you to "Beat it" after watching "Thriller" with "Billie Jean".

When Billy Idol had a "White wedding" while he "Rebel yelled" at someone that had "Eyes without a face".

When Great White wanted you to "Save all your love" after they "Rock'ed me".

A time when Golden earring wanted help from "Stepping into the twilight zone".

When Ozzy Osbourne had us on a "Crazy train" with "Mr Crowley" while we were going "Over the Mountain" and "Barking at the moon".

When the Scorpions "Rocked you like a hurricane" and were "Still loving you" after.

When I needed Cinderella to "Save me" and "Shake me" because you "Don't know what ya got till it's gone".

A time when Journey allowed you to have it "Any way you want it" - "Faithfully" when you went your "Seperate ways"

Or-

When Whitesnake asked you, "Is this love" and then  "Took you down slow n easy" in the "Still of the night".

Or when Quiet Riot wanted you to "Bang your head" and to "*** on and feel the noise".

A time when the Talking heads were "Burning down the house".

Ratt was "Laying it down"
after going "Round and round" and they always brought you "Back for more"!

When the Dire Staits wanted "Money for nothing and their chicks for free".

A time when Chris de Burgh " Did not want you to pay the Ferryman".

When Def Leppard was taking a "Photograph" while "Rocking for the ages" and they weren't "Foolin" around.

A time when Bon Jovi wanted you "Dead or alive" even after "Giving love a bad name" because you were a "Runaway" and you both "Lived on prayer" as you were lain down on "A bed of roses".

Or-

When Pat Benetar wanted you to "Hit her with your best shot" while saying "You better run".

A time when Tears for Fears wanted everyone to "Shout" about "Everybody wanting to rule the world."

When Motley Crue thought that she had the "Looks that ****" but were "Too young to fall in love".

When Robert Palmer was "Addicted to love" .

When Prince wanted to "Let's go crazy" and party like it was "1999" in the "Purple rain" but only "When the doves cry"

A time when David Bowie wanted you to put on your red shoes to "Lets dance" and talk about "Modern love".

I remember when Phil Collins only wanted "One more night" because something was "In the air tonight" and "Against all odds" he made it happen.

When George Michael spoke of a "Careless Whisper" and Spandau Ballet wanted to know if it was "True".

Or-

When Hall and Oates was so "Out of touch" that they couldn't "Go for that" especially around "Private eyes".

A time when Duran Duran's "Reflex" was to "Save a prayer" and remain "Hungry like the wolf".

Was a time when Lisa Lisa "Wondered if she could take you home" ?

When Shannon wanted you to "Give her tonight".

A time when Madonna was "Into the groove" when she was "Like a ******".

When we as an era quite possibly had the best music ever, which reminds me of a big hit back then by Aha- "Take on me".

A time I wish like Eddie Money once sang about., "I wanna go back" to.
"Two tickets to Paradise please".

Those who draw the line where time waits
and sheep pass through the valley
are not my cup of tea

avarice in the eyes of dead men and spies
and checkpoint Charlie is the place where
lies were put to sleep

they built Spandau from Communist blocks
and added ballet to the end of it to end up
on top of the pops.

what did it come too
when security has to be
run through or is that
fun too?

I got lost with the
Thomson twins or
was that the
Thompson twins
even though everyone knows
that TinTin always wins.

wandering,
forty days on a London bus
the conductor said,
'trust us, we know what we're doing',
maybe they do,
but do they know where they're going?

I take in the sights
sleep half through the nights
and watch windmills fight with
Spaniards.

All's well though
and I should know
the conductor
told me so.

his was very evident in 1939, when Germany started
another  World War, losing one wasn't enough for them
they were going full out for the Hat Trick,
the first half of the match , was going along nicely
for them, Until Rudolph Hess, was substituted for
losing his bearings,  and started playing for the opposing side,
he was eventually Red Carded, and sent to the dugout in Spandau,

Worse was to come when Captain A. ******, handled the ball,
before the penalty was taken, he turned on his own former team mates,
the Red Devils, the Russians,   His team went into the game
full of enthusiasm, and togged out in short sleeves , and shorts,
   The second half, they were frozen to death , with severe frost bite,
and what was left of them , ran off home in defeat.
  
Before the end came, Capt. A. Hitlers side were losing badly,
so the Captain decided to shoot the Ref, and the Ref
tried to shoot him , it was a stand off draw.

Captain A. ****** couldn't bear to see his team being annihilated,
so he ran downstairs to the underground dressing room,
and began ' Dribbling' like George Best, except George
only did it with his feet.

A year after ******'s team lost spectacularly,
at the Nuremberg Trials,
Goering and Hess, were once again,
selected as the top players.

Holly Barrett