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Michael John Sep 2024
i
i

what were you doing between
a lion and a camel
just passing time
i had set off for italy..

i worked for some irish
on the black stuff-swinging a
pick..and then i went to
berlin..

ii

thirty years ago lily
where has the time gone
i feel like a different person
soon be ninety..

i feel younger now
then when i was twenty though
then i was all pain
and disdain..
Michael John Sep 2024
we
we like to laugh
though it is indescribably
sad..

you don´t see the joke?
me..?
that´s it!

ii

at a boot sale i got
a little book of laughter
on the cover

a group of pentioners play
a game of stretch over assorted
colour-

one man cries cheat
as a woman uses her *******
as they reach the floor.

iii

humour differentiates us
from fauna
so they say..

on the whole, i´d rather
be-a bat or a giraffe
or a lion..

iv

one time lily
i was between a lion and
a camel..

i got to know them
quite well
surprising enough

they were quite happy
they seem to say
how awful it was in the jungle..
Michael John Sep 2024
i

sometimes it is hard to do
the right thing
(everything is wrong)-

too much-not enough
hate and love
who cares

sins of inclussion
and omission
almost the same

purity
obscurity
obtuse

specific-
say what you mean
mean what you say-

silent why
too quiet
too loud

shrinking violet
too proud
prone

get up
hate or love
too fat

too thin
we like you
we don´t like you

do this
no,do this
no-do that

not that..
god!
devil!

mad!
too good
too bad..


ii

yes,she says, i lived
by denial-like
beauty

when i was young
i would breakfast by
the nile

it was beautiful
i was very ill-
hepititis

yellow as their beautiful
lemons
amid the greens

felucaas and croissant
i smoked strong hash
and stayed awake

through the night
the athan,so beautiful
i would not sleep..
Michael John Sep 2024
rises the sun!
lily sits on the edge
wiping dreams
away like crumbs of
the thing-

did i dream?
she likes her early
morning-she says i feel
like happy and
creation..

she thinks of a time
a slice of cake
when she was sad
with out a plate..
with out a home..

no icing
no filling
no where to go..
nothing to do
nothing..

ii

i thought my time
was up-
you know that feeling..

the eye burned
like a betrayed love
a lost mind..
Michael John Sep 2024
i))
i))

a delayed write about a
monster-how often have you heard
it-?
we create our own monsters..

like we dig up graves by night
and by day fit
ill-assorted brains into
huge bodies...!?

but there is the lonely laughter
there is a corner
a brother,a sister
a mother, a father

my friend igor..
a creator
a destroyer
an idea

a notion
an obsession
complexion-
a god likened

ii

and around the mountain
come the locals
torches and cries..!-

once we have done
never to be undone!
rises the sun..
Michael John Sep 2024
ketchup as in the
blood
some mojo sealed
impossible and red

from a negative to a
could-
more felt
less angst-be

possibly..
i mean if i tried
god would love me..
why not

from tepid to hot
from to too
from two
to trot

so donne my wings
and cloud
be proud-
be a part

have a heart
swoon above
find some sort of
love..
Michael John Sep 2024
i?
i?

how she changed from death,
there must have been a moment,
illusive as jam on toast..

there must have been a breath,
what they call an epiphany,
maybe..

she said long time dead!?
not so much left
what alternative..?

ii

what is better then why
it is a beginning-
the aroma of fresh java!

what next?
a jump into the unknown
eggs benedict..

life
and ketchup
the only way..
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