Marvellous Martha’s Magical Marshmallow Mobile.

Marvellous Martha’s Magical Marshmallow Mobile.

Marvellous Martha gets about in a magical automobile
that is made of marshmallows.
She travels near and far in that car
which can traverse any terrain
It can fly across the sky
and sail the seven seas and the oceans blue.

People stop and smile when Martha passes by. 
She tosses out toffees and other sweet treats for the kids.
and coffees and cognacs for the grownups.
She also has magical liquorice lasso
that she uses to capture cads, scoundrels, and n’er-do-wells.

When her work is done,
She leaves with a honk of her marshmallow horn.
And she goes forth in search of forlorn
folk who are in need of good cheer and fun.

The Rhizome Phone

The Rhizome phone won't leave me alone. It rings and rings. I don't answer it. It wants to forgive me, give me, a gift, offer me hospitality. Ring, ring, ring.  Sting, sting, sting. It's no thing. It is the thing. 

The Rise And Fall Of Ernie The Chuck.

Ernie’s existence began in a laboratory, not a farm.
He was not borne in an egg until he was born,
but in a test tube that once contained 
the sperm of his father chicken
and the ovum of his mother duck.
Part chicken, part duck
Ernie was a chuck,
the only chuck on earth.

The scientists who created Ernie,
also genetically modified and enhanced him.
They prodded and poked him,
shoved chemicals and other things down his throat
and up his anus.
They dropped and sprayed all manner 
of substances into his eyes.
They kept him in darkness,
then in intense light.
Everyday they found a new way 
to torture and torment him.

Then, one day, it happened.
Don’t ask how; don’t ask why.
It could have been any number of factors.
Some say it was divine intervention;
others blame diabolical interference.
Whatever the reason
on that day,
Ernie the Chuck became
self –aware and meta-cognizant
He could talk (several human and animal languages in fact)
But he kept mute and waited.
Waited for the moment he might extract his revenge.

A year and two months later
that day came to pass.
Taken out his cramped cage,
to be paraded around for the benefit of visiting European scientists,
Ernie ceased the moment with the fury of Shiva.
He was a big burly bird who could fly like a duck.
He had the claws of a rooster
and a beak as big as a duck’s bill.

His revenge was swift and brutal,
A scenario of slaughter,
best not told nor shown. 

Ernie the chuck, now on the run,
planned to impregnate all forms of fowl: 
ducks, hens, ganders, and swans.
He would the preach his mission and manifesto to his offspring
and the offspring of his offspring and their offspring too.
He would preach that when the poultry
of this world seize the means of production
the tyranny of humanity would be at an end
and the Earth would become the Planet of the Poultry.

That was his plan.
Lucky for us humans,
He got hit by a van, filled with bogans
as he walked across a road.

French Onion Soup

Carla mixes a little sugar with some butter.
She heats this sugary butter
in  a large heavy-based saucepan
until it (the sugary butter) is melted.

She adds sliced onions,
cooks em over a low heat.
She stirs constantly,
until the onions are golden brown.
(The Strangler’s song comes to her mind)

Gradually,
she adds beef stock 
and continues to stir constantly
then brings it all to a boil.
She reduces the heat to low,
covers the saucepan
and allows the contents to simmer
for an hour.

She sits down on her sofa,
lights up a mentholated cigarette.
her harlot-red lipstick marks the cig’s butt.
She takes a swig of cognac
and begins the collected prose poetry of Charles Baudelaire.

After the hour is up,
she removes the soup from the stove.
Adds a splash of cognac 
and some salt and pepper,

As she is adding the pepper,
she hears
a gun
shot and
the sound
of glass
breaking.


You have to be always drunk. That's all there is to it--it's the
only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks
your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually
drunk. But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be
drunk" -Charles Baudelaire