On the banks of the Thames
beyond the doors of the Tate
glimpsed through the haze
of a London heatwave
the Post-Modernist of Fate
painting it all black
whilst trying hard to forget
his brushstrokes of regret
Tag: Poetry
The Used Lover Blues (3)
A Pathenon of Seduction
As a naïve teenager
a youth of pure innocence
I was ruthlessly seduced
by a mysterious Grecian lover
who’s pagan charms
were impossible to resist
Was it the insatiable desire
of a reckless Aphrodite
that so graciously
nearly killed me
with her all consuming divinity?
Or was it the passive aggression
of Athena that turned
a carefree choir boy
into a reprobate man?
I truly don’t know
. . . but for just one
heart pounding millennium
she touched me deeply
with her nefarious wisdom . . .
“Hard up against the impetuous
of an Olympian Goddess, there will
be no winning for any mere human.
So take what is given while you can,
and do your best to make Eros jealous!”
The Placebo Diaries (5)
The Big Get Even
Perhaps it was too much
for the Sindicate to accept
such a substantial loss
Understandably upset
they put out
a 24 hour contract
on poor Leon
their number one suspect
Goons with prison haircuts
packing serious heat
under ponchos and anoraks
were scouring the streets
That Dragon Tattoo
Toads a’ croaking
The sugarcane high
Fools rushing in
Where angels fear to fly
Doors broken
Blown open
Eucalyptus trees
Thrown asunder
In the white hot thunder
Of a cyclonic breeze
Contra Versia
The contradiction
within creation
a perpetual balancing act
with the disharmony
of destruction
That spark of oblivion
as sharp as a knife
From every dimension
in every direction
a never ending question
Salvador Dali whispering
. . . “Everything
that is contradictory
creates life.”
Conformity is death
Imperfection breeding strife
Continue reading “Contra Versia”
The Used Lover Blues (2)
A Mediterranean Odysseum
I once had an epic lover
of Olympian splendour
Nightly she would come to me
as the lustful goddess, Aphrodite
Lost in her insatiable pleasure
I was driven completely crazy
Yet by the break of dawn
she would miraculously transform
into Athena, the born again virgin
… Zeus’s warlike daughter
with her divinity fully intact
in a vesuvian rage, and ready to attack
Her Bronze Age Wisdom
wielded as a deadly weapon
Was I just her Troy Boy to be used
and then abandoned come the morning?
The Broken Hallelujah
For the children
of a grand delusion
who never stopped dreaming
For those hurting
through all the loving
and the loathing
who fell
chasing their own tail
like a sacrificial offering
to a reflection glistening
four sheets to the wind
and under the full sail
of a fevered imagination
Welcome To The Placebo Dome
Welcome to the Placebo Dome
built upon the bones
of man’s addiction to petroleum
being a carbon based lifeform
So please be seated
in the climate controlled comfort
of air-conditioned judgement
as a privileged guest
of the Meta-World Government
Shades of Junk
Junk in school
Junk on the street
Junk is lurking
every place
that people meet
There’s nowhere safe
Can you stand the heat?
Best be cool
and fast on your feet
Junk that cheats
and is hard to beat
The Used Lover Blues (1)
An Epicurean Aegean Odyssey
In a time of epic turmoil
and unsurpassable bliss
I had this diaphanous lover
a fair goddess
from far off Mount Olympus
Was it all that wrong?
Upon her golden lyre
she knew just how to play
my favourite song
setting my heart on fire
with unquenchable desire
for her heavenly body
all night long
David Redpath 