Pack up saddle up move along

Another packed suitcase another blue

in the bloody face argument

Same steps trodden over and over

no further action, no other reaction

than slow motion swings of hemp rope

hungover wooden coffin beam

fast track flashback party hack

spiderweb gloom wriggle room expired

either push or jump all the same outcome

Geronimo with different colour nightmares

sold the lots, cut slots in corrugated cardboard

bandaged wounds with scotch tape and prayer

Slowly the piles bled into emptiness

Squeezed life into box sets

short sullen steps to outcast pariah status

a short hiatus, not to be conflated with freedom

freedom’s for heroes not zeros

Packed up four lives one of them dead

other three lying dying, on separate sofas

Pinprick positions posted

a cork board of reminders:

Pay the milkman, feed the cat

kill thirty years of yesterdays

Documents, parsimonious pamphlets

good ideas rotten before fruition

sort chuck keep, quiet weep

when nobody is listening

empty rooms deep

worms of memory crawling spine wards

waspish words stinging nettle blisters

nail raking blackboard squeals

of indignant outrage

couldn’t wait to turn the page

quick enough on that chapter of horrors

Hire a team clean house

spick and span

leave quietly as I can

a mouse licking it’s wounds

divvy up the lolly walking holiday

slow disintegration, what was once

in polite circles known

as a nervous breakdown

now a burnout a workout thrown out

for not turning up

I fucking turned up!

Where were you?

my turn ups filled with bloody scenes

Seashells and nitro glycerine

a short spell of disassociation

feet marching grass thin,

multiple spins

around the park after dark,

dogs bark, flame sparks

and it’s giddy up Neddy

What larks

Eh Pip!

We’re back in the saddle

~

Burnt out burned down…back in the saddle, still can’t handle a horse for toffees

It’ll all end in tears or maybe it won’t?

Giddy up Neddy!