Cruising with Mercator

A crude analogy
A textual fallacy

Heading south for a sinner
Crossing the line
Mercator maps my territory

Not with broad brush strokes
Or a fountain pen
But a seaman’s bright lucidity

Russell J Turner – January 2011

No More Picture Postcard

Blood red lipstick:
Write your manifesto in six feet scrawl;
An angel with a dirty face,
Slingbacks and anoraks.

No more big wheels,
No more picture postcard,
Just needle-stuck and wolf-eyed.
The certainty of reverie

Kissed her on the mouth,
Full square on the mouth,
And took her breath far away,
Travelling hopefully. Unravelling

The savagery of youth –
‘Life’s too short to darn socks.’

Russell J Turner – January 2011

The Notary Swings the Cat

Elvis has left the building.
The notary swings the cat.
I would if I could but I can't so I won't.
Bring me the head of John the Baptist.
No shit Sherlock.
The revolution will not be digitized.
The revolution will not be analyzed.
The revolution will not be memorized.
The bear came over the mountain.
He who laughs last laughs longest.
Bought for love and sold for a pittance.
Unfit for human habitation.
Lickspittle scuttlebut.
The cold executioner's dawn.

Russell J Turner – January 2011

Trust Never Sleeps

There are things best left unread:
Like the Necromonicon.
Or the Daily Mail.

There are things best left unwed:
Like the Bride of Frankenstein.
Or the Groom from the Black Lagoon.

There are things best left undead:
Like a cat-in-a-box.
Or a particularly recalcitrant zombie.

There are things best left unfed:
Like the fires of dark Satanic mills.
Or a voracious and unwarranted ego.

There are things best left unbled:
Like those war story wounds.
Or a big, big heart.

There are things best left unshed:
Like a pair of sheer silk stockings.
Or a snakeskin layer of trust.

There are things best left unsaid.

Russell J Turner – January 2011

they'll all be dead in six months anyway

when the ship sank there was barely time to break out the brandy dig out the manual figure out this new calculus this other set of variables

when the ship sank do not forget this is war my son i won’t papa just this once but never again i won’t papa they will use this to put a noose around my neck just put the cross around my neck papa and be done

when the ship sank adrift in an ocean literal and spiritual no place of sanctuary nothing but a big red talisman to hide behind and whisper

when the ship sank called to the others not sleeping but wideawake they came from the west lost in translation lost in jubilation into the waters into the boats cut the ropes cut the ties that bind

when the ship sank everything changed he was a good man good man shake his hand but they’ll all be dead in six months anyway

Russell J Turner – January 2011

Othertimes I Bring Gifts

I

The lines run down the window
Broken by light
I call you from the diamond
Singing of fair cities and dead prophets

Not one but three
Take tea with the lanternman
As if hoarding memories
Against the coming frost

II

Startled she wakes
Clutching like a drowning girl
Scattered pattern princess
Heading for the bright lights

There is no honour in abandonment
Grey weeds between the bricks
Yellowed paper road
And red ruby slippers

III

Sometimes I weep
And othertimes I bring gifts
As the crowd roars
For their shy hero

Then as now the clock beats
Some staccato silence
Fourteen times he took their plaudits
And broke their big hearts

IV

No more nonsense
Just a quiet sense of the ridiculous
No more nonsense
Sleeps with me, sleep with me

Russell J Turner – January 2011

Books What I Have Read

July to December 2010

Jitterbug Perfume - Tom Robbins (9)
Madame de Pompadour - Margaret Crosland (4)
2666 - Roberto Bolano (10)
The Crucible - Arthur Miller (9)
Antwerp - Roberto Bolano (10)
Salem Possessed - Boyer & Nissenbaum (7)
The Daughters of Juarez - Teresa Rodriguez (5)
Amulet - Roberto Bolano (10)
Judge Sewall's Apology - Richard Francis (9)
C - Tom McCarthy (8)
Censorship - Julian Petley (7)
The Pillowman - Martin McDonagh (8)
Otherland Vol. 1 - Tad Williams (6)
Surface Detail - Iain M Banks (9)
The Skating Rink - Roberto Bolano (8)
Wittgenstein's Poker - Edmonds & Eidinow (8)
Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood (8)
Monsieur Pain - Roberto Bolano (8)
The Year of the Flood - Margaret Atwood (7)
Southampton Dada - Nick Rogers (6)
The Heart of a Dog - Mikhail Bulgakov (7)
Pandaemonium - Christopher Brookmyre (6)
The Little Prince - A. de St-Exupery (8)
Thought Disorder - Joshua Jones (6)

Films What I Have Seen at the Cinema

July to December 2010

Inception (6)
Winter's Bone (10)
Richard III (7)
Blood of a Poet (8)
The Social Network (9)
Police, Adjective (3)
The American (7)
Somewhere (9)