Thursday, January 16, 2014

Month of poetry #15: Words on a hot night

No end of sweat to the bedtime tale you're telling me.
It's a shambles of plot, a small summery explosion
of superheroes and half-remembered phrases
you heard a screen say. Imagine if we were
super samurai mighty power ranger
horses in the sun! No, in the sun! In the SUN!

Your room built in layers of heat, vinegar of
your head and pillow, honeycomb of
light drifts through toilet-roll constructions.
The remains of Fruit Ninja scattered for nighttime
battleship: this melon blows my tomato
out of the water. My insteps twinge in advance.

The blinds slithers down like tired snakes.
I bop a toy with my sweaty palm: the
bobble-headed-Thor swayed gently.
In the cool air next week he will escort
a pot-bellied alien home from Savers:
We're taking him to his spaceship.

Why do I have to wear shorts tomorrow?
Because it's summer in Australia. Lie down.
Why is Australia so hot?
Right now, because it's summer. Lie down.
A boy said 'fucking stupid racing car'.
That's not very good to say at kinder. No.

Click of the door before he sees me grin.
Still I think it's clever to swear, and
every hot phrase they cook up thrills:
from the first I love you to the well-placed
Fuckers. They're all fuckers. It's not
unwise to stock up on these words in summer.

Tangled sheets and raging air conditioner
dull thumps of sleep-bound feet on the wall.
He's being built out of words, trying on
different sorts of armor and feathers
imagine and what if and fuck off
stockpiling love and fury on a hot night.

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Includes suggestions from:

@matchtrick: this melon blows my tomato out of the water (The Mitchell and Webb Look)
@ernmalleyscat: I think it's clever to swear (John Cooper Clarke, I don't want to be nice)
@JayJayCee1: We're taking him to his spaceship (E.T.)
@chantarelle: The bobble-headed-Thor swayed gently in the cool air
@timsterne: Why is Australia so hot right now?
@sulphura: You're telling me! It's a shambles
@ReadingSheilas: a small summery

(PS: fuck it's hot.)







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