August, the Red Line,
connected tanks
of bolted plastic vertebrae.

Every seat gone except
five rows up, where a sea lion
sprawls across two,
stuffed backpack, jacket
spread like barbed wire.
His grunt a wet bark
at the glow of his screen.

Middle-school deer slip into the aisle,
chatter clipped when the sheriff drifts past,
their ears flicking, smiles bitten shut.

Not a predator- just a gelded ox,
chest puffed, badge sagging, glass-eyed,
chest rig clattering with blanks.

Two lemur-children cling to their tortoise elder,
her shell steady against the sway of the car.

She filters them from the surge of riders:
loud Dodger blue parrots in cholo socks,
moth-women with painted lashes beating the stale air,
a stray dog, gutter musk dragging at its haunches.

And one gray bear

muttering alone,
arguing with her reflection.

Between Koreatown and MacArthur Park
I feel feathers forcing through my skin-
an alley gull knifing into this clamour,
scavenging inside its exhaust.

The car rattles, its ribs plated with blistered posters:
museum wings open to no one,
‘register to vote’ fading into graffiti script,
flu shots promised by smiling ghosts.

A bruised hatchling staring out beside the words
See something, say something.

The warning lights glow
like eyes hunting in the dark.

From its flanks the train
unfurls iron claws.

They rake
the tunnel walls,
the city’s bones,
the dark itself.

warm sun sweet liquid
dark moist hole bristles soft sand
wonder exquisite
                            
                         *      
                                  *
                        SUN    
                             \/
                          sweet
                             ||
                       D  ARK        Q  QQ ||| b r i St  Les                      
                    s
                           o
                                f
                                    t
                                         sand ::::::sandcastles:::::::::holes OOO:::birth
                                                                 ing
ALICE

She basked in warm mid-morning sun drinking rooibos tea with almond biscuits. Her dollies speaking dolly lingo to marching ants. An indigo beam of sunlight rayed into her forehead, delivering jolts to her ladybird reverie.

Instantly Alice saw it. A tiny dark gasping hole in the flaking courtyard wall through which a caterpillar was  c r a w l i n g, beckoning her to
f o l l o w.
“Come,” he said, “with me, through MY intricate hole. I want to show YOU wonders beyond wOnders.”
eyes to eyes magnetised
a curious movement                             SSSSSSS
body lost legs, arms, neck                       SSSSS
brain smoking shrinking                              SSS
ears disappearing                                          S                
ribs increasing                                              

                      she felt an ***** growing
                      on the roof of her mouth
                      transmutation into worm or
                      serpent
                      how was she to know ?
        
                                                          
Her dollies started whimpering, ants stopped in their tracks, wall flaked some more
shedding skin
ALICE with two silky plaits, red ribboned tied
GONE to the
                     BE
                          YOND •••>>>  where no pond rip
                                                                       pled

black moist silently inward
sumptuous costume velvet
lime glitter embellished
crawling  s l o w l y, sleekly
spine tingling steel pins
rapidly acquiring density
            s e r p en t i n e  sword
            struck swiftly
            penetratingly  

Alice feared losing her
squirm worm
already her mind was
  L
           O
                S
                    T    

w i t h o u t  thistle  f i e l d s
or jellybeans or colour-in books
lego nowhere = ego shat
                                         te red

“Feel,” he said. “You can’t talk here, only feel.” She felt liquid through her veins, diluted warm honey, sensing bronzed bristles along the wormhole wall. Justice or Judgement eyes watched intently, though nobody touched.

             Her forked tongue grew longer
                  licked sides of damp musky hole
                      elongated, she was whole  

dead     alive     SAFE  opened  merging
slithering deep into belly of volcanic Earth
                  YET….slashed  slimy
s a i l i n g  sand  muddy   SACRED
worms and serpents crawling beside
behind, ahead ~
all heading in  O N E
direction________where to ?

“This is a pilgrimage,” her new friend remarked.  
Where     t   o   x2x2 ?
thoughts quietly rattled wormy counterpart  ~
“To Lord of Light, awaiting in a leather armchair.”
What must I do there, her thoughts slid along.
“Nothing.”
Then why are you taking me there ?
“To see what NO THING  is.”
How can I see nothing ?     DNA    j     m
                                                          U
                                                                p s
recalibration of
strings and strands ...
                            “Because  NO  T H   IN G  O
      D            is           Everything...”

They slid  a l o n g  > > ~ ~
slightly more haste
pace becoming faster
warm breezes flushed her
trunk. Her intestines becoming
                       an
          
               ~~ !!\\/\/\/\/!!! ~~~!!

EXPLOSIve  ORANGE RIVER
GOLD dust tinged ~   flame-purified
                                   no pebbles no grit no grime

“Feel,” her friend whispered, “we are nearing His g  RAY  sheepskin slippers sprouting WHITE lotuses. He is Nothingness, so don’t be afraid.”
                tingling sensations swept
                   upwards
                       from tail end through heart
                           to centre of her new skull.
Alice panted hot ice
I want to cry, but have no tears, she thought.
“HUSH hush hush ….don’t be afraid.”
Her body stiffened
neck area arched
scales curled   f  a  l  l
                                          i
                                             n
                                                   g            

webby rose petals faded
through floorless floor

NOTHINGNESS  and  EVERYTHING
flashed   L U M I N O S I T Y   n  a  k  e  d

A   Li  ce     died   * ¥ ¥¥**  an   e c s t a t i c
                                     D
                                          E
                                             A
                                                 T
                                                    H _


Alice Wanda Adam  ~  1.1.202O  — 1.8.2025


@never.never.land
                  she frolicked with
                  Rip van Winkle
                     who fed her TIME and leechies
                        skipped alongside Goldilocks
who offered hot cinnamon porridge and
a silver spoon engraved ~ AWA ~


What is her name ? asked the midwife
                       “A  L  I  C  E”   replied her Mom              
“Oooo, Sweets, she’s a  WONDERLAND ” a baritone voice chimed, stroking vernix ears.

mohair crochet bootied
Alice ****** HOT
mother’s milk
                       d
                          r
                            i
                              p
                                p
                                   i
                                      n
                                          g



©GhairoDanielsPoetry&Song2025

I keep moving seats
elbows buddy elbows
    I keep moving seats
sir, do you have headphones some say earbuds?
it would appear not
    I keep moving seats
geezer's hoicking up a lung
    I keep moving seats
now we have a nutscratcher
with hairy legs akimbo
    I keep moving seats
maybe I should find this child charming but
he's doing my crust in poking my leg
    I keep moving seats
yes I enjoy listening to the sounds
of the bingo video game or like
whatever the **** do you mind
    I keep moving seats

it used to have me bored
till the roam saw greater overpass
lacking value, lacking cash
in these times even the brokest can catch some a*s.

2018 scene , was the year of thirteen
confused then till I hit the pen
the skaters always been too “bold”
too “crazy-like” , yeah we fight
all in our right.

these same parks saved me from a sin
reminiscing the first time to one watching “cherry” with a grin -

now peaking with motivation
rather than bored

let’s cruise down in the Valley
learn something more in high hope
may be a little demure
when skating though,
the wheels turn to show -
who’s really true
who’s really pure.

and that’s from your$truly

That voice
Inside your head
The untrue you
Past and future dread

Remnants wanting to shape
Events that are not facts
Wanting to control
Anything else

The low burning blues
Up from the underground
Seen when life around
Is shining

Fly above, look out
Beyond your self
Take a peek
Glide right back in

Into your spirit
Into your hope
Turn fear into angels wings
The universe needs you
To stop trying to fix it

Submissive people

often hide a hidden force --


An underground fire.

basemented   this liminal vivarium of cool moulded plastic
             with mirrors standing in for windows
and a ring of branded restaurants taking refuge at the edges
    all familiar     no surprises
the staff set up
         for the consumers morning
                      of slack mastication
      (Local chain, national, international)
  
the old-timers   glomming into clump
    benign zombies
an arrangement of fellas with dissolving jaws
  cudding over mammary notions
       untailored in sacky pallid sultana skins
    reform in a mumble
doing snailish pinball movements
            crossing and recrossing floors
         cleanly tiled for biohazard accidents
               salivating about the savoury soft foods to come

the restaurants rattle-shake-raise their security blinds

also noted
a mixed bag of people projecting
      into their smooth glowing slablets
    making out like worldly fools

also present
cropped and groomed toy security
      peering between the fronds of plastic foliage

offscreen
public bathrooms   the first struggling **** of the day

also present
a bench of  youngsters in bright blue screen matching pjs
  the four employees of sanitation
      drumming up for the shift

see also
vague happy lady in a  garish sarong
importing her holiday religion

Summer is loading full
             just one bit more
                     London is On!

Busy bus only 20 miles
           per hour
      tube  it
take the underground!

Meet down the various clouds
               though the sun oft
     picks on the gray paintbrush
the bumble bees fly on bright path
       daffodils are yellow
                   eyes are black and white.

The colour plate is full
                     down the cloud
                          go by underground!

so the day is going well
which is never a good sign
time ticking past somnambulantly
inducing a soporific state
I find hard to shake
with rocking carriages
as I traverse to my travail
through millennia of archaeology
passing long extinct dinosaurs
turning magically to crude oil
Roman armies with Gladius drawn
ready for action two thousand
years on, still trying to conquer
the unconquerable realm
then an eco-warrior
of shabby description
yells my carbon footprint
is an abominable *******
it’s an electric train I holler
how much greener can I be fella
the Romans are looking friendlier
by the minute they only wanted
my freedom not justification of existence
the soporific state abates
the modern world is against me
now I’m running late