Jackson

How long, how long, how long, how long, to sing this song? — U2, channelling the Psalmist The music's cruisy     trancy     wordless The father walks away from the mother On the father's hip the baby cries Mamma Mamma The father walks away so the mother can do the workshop On the father's hip the baby cries Mamma… Read more

I dreamed I was starting in a running race There were four 400-metre laps Everyone else limbered up When the gun went they took off sending up divots from their spiked shoes I stretched myself a bit and looked around The finish line was only 50 metres from the starting blocks Just there Practically in… Read more

my mother smells like cat: tongue licking kitten; like homespun: wool-grease, warmth; like eggshell, like duckpond; like ocean: iodine, fins; like oils wet on canvas; like tripe, like boiled cabbage; like baked apples and ginger biscuits; like slept-in ‘Tweed by Lentheric’; like cold morning ash; like yellowing paper; like glass First published in Creatrix Read more

My baby     He was shrinking away from me I set him on his feet but he could no longer stand He was growing smaller I set him on his feet but he could no longer stand He curled up at the foot of a door My baby     Shrinking away from me I set him on his feet… Read more

But then I dreamed the same back all covered in skin tags and that was pretty challenging but I think it was my body and him sleeping on it fronting the world maybe just wanting to I don’t know the dream is the image in an upstairs rank of some helpline was it my happiness?… Read more

Let me tell you this. You don’t know him. You imagine him in a place of dreams, a place with not walls but a broad plain on all sides of him, a spread of sand, thin grass, dry shed skins to warn off all who approach the line he’s drawn around his balls. You imagine… Read more