Warning

If you attempt to dismember me
I will not sit passively
I'll sharpen my tongue
I'll sever the cord
That restrains my song.
You slay then flay the beast
On which we feast
We dine with the priest
From whom festivities flow.
'Til we bite into his heart
And no guest moves
They glance at the clock
Make their excuses and go.

Chaos

Accompany me on my journey
Over the sea. I am leaving
A country whose soil
Is stained with blood
I am the iconoclast
Cast in the role of villain

This is a kind of primal tribalism
I set myself apart for I am neither
The devil nor the divine
I swim against the tide
I resist the divide
I will not surrender

But they hunt in packs,
The emotional bloodhounds
I stand between them and their prey
I am pushed aside and we watch
As she ascends the scaffold
Old and mad and terrified

They celebrate their conquest
They serve as mutual mirrors
In this land of polarity
There is no dawn, no twilight
There is only day, there is only night
They will never love me
But their love was and always will be
A prize not worth possessing
A desire to belong used to burn inside me
It will not return for I know now
That their missiles do not always
Hit their target

For even they cannot hold back the night
Even they cannot hold back the tide
Even they cannot hold back the chaos
One day it will come rushing in
It will engulf them. Eventually.

Street-Sweeper by Day

Caged, enraged,
A life reduced
A lap dancer
In some sleazy club
Then the war started
And the river parted
Incredible, indelible,
Pink flesh glistening
Under hot lights

By day she is
The street sweeper
Barely there
Only half alive
We pass her by
She emerges from s family
Of filthy scrubbers
Derided and despised

But in the dark
At night so bright
With stars. A hidden
Inner self emerges
Magical and ethereal
She is cut and shaped,
From the same cloth
As her foremothers
Embracing duality

An inner twin
Concealed by day
This is the way
She has learnt to survive
A wraith in ragged overalls
Unnoticed by passers by
As she waits for the end
Of these friendless, endless
Days of decay

But in the dark
She is not the same
She dances on the tabletop
Ageing, affluent city bankers
Thrust money at her
Forgetting for a moment
Their wives, their children
The dullness of their lives
Chanelled into something they despise

And for her, this is survival
But, for them, it all remains
Just a game

Supernova

I went supernova
Invisible matter trust outwards
In waves and relativity
Does not concern me
Neither does this strange theory
Of gravity. There are no certainties
Just disembodied entities
I am not governed by the clock
I divorce myself from this force
Curvature, an overture, an encore
There are four dimensions
But we see only three
Changing shapes, Circles stretch
`Then they are compressed
Elevating, enervating
I deal with distortion, with contortion
I pass though unscathed.

Rise and Return

They will tell me nothing of my origin
A sin, they say, that must never be repeated
I emerged from some obscure country
On some dark continent. I am an exhibition
I should charge for admission

The fog gathers and all the profanities
Directed at me reassemble themselves
In my mind relentlessly. It resembles
A kind of constant aerial bombardment
Insults issued in jest, they say

In dreams under cover of darkness
Guided by the yellow moon, I crawl
Slowly across the map of the word
To that once magical place that is the land
Of my birth and I unearth an elaborate
History that, until now, was hidden from me.

Closing In

I do what they wish
And in return they offer
A truly delectable dish
I savour the flavour
Of belonging, of venturing
Into unexplored regions
And the legions, they sing
They form a ring around me
They shelter me from adversity
From diversity, from complexity
They offer me symmetry
They infiltrate
And then they isolate.

Frailty

Frail, my skin
Pink strips of fabric
Protecting, sheltering
Whatever lies within
Loose stitching
Holds me together
I was carelessly
Constructed
They breathe life into me
Life and light
I glow in the candlelight
Uncannily bright
I am flawed
But I am adored
I will die by the sword