Stonehenge
—Poetry by Neil Fullwood, Nottingham, UK
—Public Domain Photos Courtesy of Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA
Renege on the deal; outsmart the rat race;
throw off this world for a world of your own.
Snap hands from the clockface. Unplug the phone.
Rewrite the code to create your own space;
throw off this world for a world of your own
where hourglass sand drifts slow over stone.
WILDLIFE
An elephant lands on an emu’s head
A snail is fined for a speeding offence
Gazelle erupt from a garden shed
A seagull dives down to the ocean bed
A whale loops-the-loop then slowly descends
An elephant lands on an emu’s head
Seal cubs drink and do Es at Club Med
Sloths live a lifestyle that’s fast and intense
Gazelle erupt from a garden shed
A mynah bird opts to leave it unsaid
A lion swallows his pride and repents
An elephant lands on an emu’s head
Penguins lie out in the sun till they’re red
Pandas study firearms and self-defence
Gazelle erupt from a garden shed
Dodos party like they’re back from the dead
Hippos conga down a narrow fence
An elephant lands on an emu’s head
Gazelle erupt from a garden shed
THE LONG NOW
“Clocks cry: stillness is a lie, my dear ...”
—Sylvia Plath, “To Eva Descending the Stair”
The watch warns: time’s a human construct, mate,
eternity wrestled down by long division;
a tyranny of early, punctual, late.
The alarm clock screams out its insensate
wake! wake! Chiming in with arch precision,
the watch warns: time’s a human construct, mate,
a boundary, the days ringed by fence and gate;
weeks, months, years monotonous as prison:
a tyranny of early, punctual, late.
The punch clock, just like time itself, won’t wait:
tardiness is met with bland derision.
The watch warns: time’s a human construct, mate,
an own goal, a burden you can’t unfreight
yourself of, like politics or religion:
a tyranny of early, punctual, late.
The Clock of the Long Now reframes debate,
time stretched by its 10,000-year mission.
The watch warns: time’s a human construct, mate,
a tyranny of early, punctual, late.
THE SONG OF THE WIDE-BOY IS HEARD IN THE LAND
Maybe your gaff’s a library, loft or lab.
Lido, you say? Okay. I’m down with that.
Take my hand, pay my bar bill, hail a cab.
Before I can run up another tab,
let’s go where Es are free and beats are phat
and carpe all the diem we can grab.
Not sure what I’m good for? Then take a stab
and find out if I’m Romeo or rat:
take my hand, pay my bar bill, hail a cab.
Rough diamond; cheeky chap; gift of the gab;
ignore the bores who’ll tell you I’m a twat
and carpe all the diem you can grab
while flipping off a life that’s dull and drab.
We’ll sing conformity its requiescat.
Take my hand, pay my bar bill, hail a cab
and carpe all the diem you can grab.
____________________
Nottingham Brit Neil Fullwood is back with us today, bringing four exquisite Villanelles that encourage us to reject the quotidian. Neil himself rejected the quotidian back in 2019, when he exchanged a white-collar job for driving a bus. Welcome back, Neil! If you can get to Sacramento by 8pm tonight, you can join our poets in the hot tub…
•••Today (12/1), 8pm: Sac. Poetry Alliance Tub Open Mic Poetry (STOMP) Reading happens on Zoom at us02web.zoom.us/j/85846531910/. Info: www.facebook.com/events/3138033573099148/. Host: Frank Dixon Graham.
____________________
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