Category: Greatest Hits

Greatest Hits is now finished. Antarctica resumes on Weds January 27 and has four or five more posts. Then a new volume. Death. Death the point at which the frequent contradiction of theory and observation converge to absolute absence. A membrane through which loss passes to non-existence, the space occupied by a person, entity, emotion, ideal or hope that is gone, and gone forever. A collection of (un) poems reflections of an audience of one. A person holding and slowly turning an urn of ashes, thinking about what is, what was, what might have been and the slow formed acceptance of cutting the cards and drawing the joker.

On the track
standing above me
she turned and spoke.
“You don’t really want to walk do you?”
A statement. Not an enquiry.

She said I wanted to be with her
was attracted to her.
Stammering retractions and denials
are met with a softer tone
and a slow advance.
anorak tenting breasts – at eye level
knowing dark overthrows uncertain twilight.

A decade and a half older
mother of four
seeking attractiveness, settling for hormones.
“Did I want to go with her?”
Go with her
a euphuism not heard before
but needing no translation
desire passes straight from hope to urgency.

Did I know a place?
Yes.
A smile gives permission.
One condition
I’m not permitted to look…… stretchmarks.

Afterwards
furtive glances prompt another question.
Had I ever seen a naked woman?
Once at 18
In an indifferent smoky room
where women are paid to remove their clothes.
“That doesn’t count.”
An invitation to a private viewing.

To learn more click Backstage

The Internet destroyed mystery
and debate
who was the greatest ballplayer
Ty Cobb
Babe Ruth
Joe DiMaggio?
IPhone + Google + stats = unarguable answer
in seconds.
Backup crew for Apollo 11
scroll…. 3 names
the drummed out drummer
dumped from The Beatles for Ringo
screen flash : Pete Best
obviously not.
And for teachers
homework
that required thought and deduction.

It was a gifted class
top stream
high school mathematics
take home problems
to extend
to challenge.
A priori
impossible to solve with present knowledge.

One pupil does
always
irrespective of difficulty.
His father helps candour admits
as the year progresses
and difficulty
a solution, the correct one, returns each morning.
One day very impressed
she asks is your father a computer programmer or engineer
“no Miss, he’s a butcher
he just really enjoys mathematics.”

Click Backstage for more.