1
Address
About to make your first address
crowds like pixels on your television set
and your sweat, your sweat.
Lives depend on me,
eyes ascend on me
my son
my wife
the friends I'll see.
One man’s fear is another man’s joke
crack, quip, fire and stoke
stoke
stoke
stop.
It's not what I am or what I will become; but what.
What becomes of me, if I turn and run.
Open your mouth, hold on to your belt,
“wa-wa-welcome to Wimpy sir, how may I help?”
2
Commute
Eyes locked upon the concrete slabs
gravity ties the eyes to the the grey mirrors of your life.
Head-hunched by the weight of the day
head hunted before it's begun.
LinkedIn, synced in with the apathetic sway of the marching
sardines.
Commute, mute, deaf to the dawn song
expressionless on the less express.
Trade a smile, if you dare
give them nothing, just get there.
3
Wonderful Curse
What a wonderful curse
to close the gap of distant friends in a single tap
face to face has no app.
A world of backseat fantasy
where nature rendered in 2D
replaces mucky hands and knees
and breathlessness that's well received.
An endless knowledge of masterly minds
history stored for all of time
learnt not lived
a modern mime.
Pen and paper etch further away
as backlit screens and servers display
I'll strain my eyes
get more done in the day
as Mother Time ticks away.
Efficiency, is now your pay.
What a wonderful curse
to have it all
in idle screens
and miss the call
for greater things in sacrifice
above, beyond, the next device.
4
Number One
I’m a one-hit wonder
wondering how life could serve up this blunder.
I’m a one-hit wonder
but the problem is
it stole my thunder.
Now I’m a memory
a distant melody
they’ll never see there’s more to me.
Started with a bang
I never even wanted to join that gang
you’re in through thick and thin
respect is your mistress and fear is a sin.
You don’t know what it’s like
a punch is a handshake in some of them’s sight.
My life was full of risks
dancing on switchblades and running in mist
but was it worth all of this?
Altercation sensation
clapped up
trapped up over one slap up
slip up.
He wasn’t meant to die
hunched over a step bleeding eye to eye.
He should’ve kept quiet
and I should have never
ever
gone to that riot.
I’m a one hit wonder
but inside here
I’m just another number.
5
Rollercoaster
Dip,
as we move along the track
the ride is more exciting but the money's getting crap.
Paying the price for people of past
rich men laugh, the poor harassed.
It's a long climb time to the top whilst everything soars against the
drop.
Double dip,
here we go again,
if you want to survive, be creative men.
Re-session the session, buckle stretch and belt,
and we're out
to an uncomfortable exit.
Leave the riders behind
our views misaligned,
and like a fine cheese that meets the rind
bitterness lingers amongst a crowd interlinked.
I thought it would be fine to bring a drink.
6
All Eyes
I am the centre of attention
like a golden deity
people pay for me
sway for me
adjust their day for me.
It’s a dangerous place to become comfortable.
Vultures wait for me
prey and bait me
waiting for a slip
until they find another drip
an intravenous high until the next guy.
I am at the centre of a tension.
7
Relate
You may be intelligent, but can you relate.
You may be successful, but can you relate.
You may be rich, but can you relate.
Because a person detached drives me irate.
I do not rate a person detached.
You say you’re here to help but we've never spoken,
you’re a face for a body that doesn’t realise it's broken.
I need help but you need it first,
you’d need to walk in these boots to understand thirst.
You say you make a difference with a stroke of your pen,
but I need a sword to get out of this den.
You’re on my side, but you’ve never been on my side.
Born apart from pride, in the jungle I hide.
Whilst you atop your ivory throne you suck the gelatine from every bone.
I, like a paper napkin that cowers from gravy, because the stains of life
have laid it on thick lately.
And you expect me to thank you greatly.