The Carnival

all the people are dressed in velvet and silk
as the carnival lights replace the sun
they’re tossing pennies on the eyes
of the forgotten one
his body is cold and lifeless
he was once known for his fame
they’ll bury him two feet first
by the stone that bears his name
the ferris-wheel spins eternally over
not letting anybody ride
and the gates of the exit are closed
trapping all the players inside

Christina walks the big-top grounds
ignoring the gentlemen's glares
they stand behind the curtains
peeking out when they think she’s unawares
but she keeps them in check with one eye
and the other is placed firmly down
she doesn’t see the light inside her
she thinks they stare at her gown
there was a gentleman in her life
but now he’s become a memory
he broke her heart some year ago
her life is a tragic story

you can ride the spotted pony
feels like the only freedom you can get
as you face flies through the lights
on a back that’s warm at best
but the old man with the golden tooth grins at you
because in this game he’s the host
he’s tied the chain to the pony's neck
and the other end to a post
you may smile as you ride around
but the pony's eyes are locked down
he’s destined to just ride round
mastered by you and the gold toothed man

Mary Magdeline is in an alley way
on her knees for a businessman
he uses her for what she’s known for
then throws twenty crumpled dollars in her hand
the priest dressed in black
his eyes reflect how his mind is deranged
he’s on the corner of the street
yelling that she should be ashamed
but the businessmen keep coming
and the organ drowns out his accusations
Mary wants to say how she’s dying
but no-one wants her conversations












there’s a man dressed in a suit
and he follows people around
peering into their pocket
and looks on their heads for crowns
he’s the one the clowns call messiah
but the lion-tamer fears his face
here everyone’s controlled by strings
it’s he who manipulates your fate
everyone tells him to leave their shadow
and so he creeps away
he’ll wait for the next time that you’re here
we all come back to him one day

Madonna stands with a pink apron
handing out fairy-floss to kids
they all descend upon her
then fight and squeal like pigs
her only son stands next to her
jealous of the children with a home
His Father had flown by night
leaving Mary & He alone
They were collected by the show after He left
and lived a life of service and shame
He’s thinking always of his Father
and revenge is connected to His name

everyone here are the players
ignorant of who makes the moves
they’re happy just to be entertained
by puppets and shinny grooves
throwing stones at simple bottles
and then laugh when none fall
men and women are arm in arm
and their children play around the floor
the circus gates are locked in dark
till morning strangles the moon
all the people scatter into the light
and men come to clean the room

the only people left from the night
are counting their coins and tips
the black under their eyes is pooling
it’s time to pack up their ships
heading back to their caravans and tents
to sleep while the sun reigns
Madonna and her son curl up
and the men go home with cheap dames
but Christina shares her bed with none
her eyes are the last to close
morning fails as evening comes
and the carnival will open again its shows

Storytellers

One family gathering I remember my mum and brother were outside at the washing line. She was taking the dry sheets off the line and passing them to him. He would take them and put them back one the line. This went on for about half an hour, they were both drunk, not really drunk, just merry.

There was a night that I remember my mum walk out of her room and down the stairs. It was about two o’clock in the morning, she walked out in a doped up state wearing a white gown so she looked like a ghost. She went to the fridge and grabbed a beer and proceeded to pour it into an empty ice-cream bucket. The pattering rain on the roof must had waken her, she walked outside in the soft rain and started collecting snails and killing them in the bucket of beer. All the time muttering that she had to get the snails, that they would ruin the garden.

I found my nan once washing peas and straining the water away into the cutlery draw.

I was conceived during an affair in the back of an Alfa Romao. It was in the parking lot after a work function at the company were both my parents met.

Me and my best friend once found a secret little room. Way out in the field we found a door in the side of a cave. Inside there was a small ledge, and then a huge drop, it was like a giant dark box. We used to go there all the time and talk or throw bouncing balls around, the type that lit up. There was one night that we went in it was midnight and we stayed for two hours. We knew because we had watches and only two hour hours went by, but when we got out it was light, six o’clock. We lost four hours of our lives in that black hole.

The first thing that she wanted to do when she moved out is call home and exclaim; “Mum, I’m running with scissors!”

I have a fairy that follows me name mischief. It used to be my Grandfathers, he kept her in his shirt pocket, and she would go around making mischief, hiding things. When he died she went to my uncle, and he gave her to me. So she follows me around and moves or hides things from me and my friends.

She knew a kid called Jesus in kindergarten, her only memory was chasing him around the room with a pair of scissors.

Her family was completely dysfunctional, in a funny way. Every christmas gathering her brother would try something knew. Once he made a rule that no one was allowed to say anything unless it was in song. For the entire christmas people were singing everything that they said.

He woke up on new years day. Hung over to all fuck, looked in his packet of cigarettes to find one left. He went to the fridge and made a cup of coffee, using the last of the milk in the house. Walked outside and sat down on the couch. he put the cigarette in his mouth, but before he could light it, it fell out of his mouth and dropped into his coffee.

On her third birthday she looked up and said. “Is my birthday... but I don’t know why is my birthday?”

My mother died on the ides of March. Had to be poetic.

A boy in primary school had the biggest crush on a girl. He came to school exclaiming “Oh no, I forgot the forget something!” I asked what he was talking about he said that if he had of forgotten something then he could have asked the girl for it.

She was introduced to me in the kitchen as Sylvia Plaith... I opened the oven door for her and she said that she loved me.

At his last class at uni he for filled a vow that he had made three years earlier, when he started. Moonwalk outta there. It ended up not being so much of a moonwalk as as stumble backwards until he ran into his friend.

Talking about doing something stupid and romantic for her 21st birthday. Having it all planned out in my mind, to wear a beautiful suit and a single red rose... And be dripping wet from rain. Telling her that to do this romantic thing that it has to rain. “It’s not gonna rain, it’s the middle of summer.”
“Compensating saying... “Well there can be a hose.”
“No... there can’t be a hose... I’m getting my hair done.”

A girl wearing a skimpy outfit on a freezing cold night. When asked how she can dress like that she said. “I just pretend that it’s a really hot day and I’m standing in front of an air conditioner.”

“You’re hardcore... no soft centres in your chocolate assorted box.”

3rd gear... nearly at port fairy. My wet pants are waving out the back window because of that walk. And the service station didn’t have a knife isle so kim’s cutting up brie with a credit card.

A guy with manic depression. Wanted to bake a cake, and he needed to buy some flour. So he flew from melbourne to sydney to buy a bag of flour.

“Have you got a quid mate?”
“Doubt it, I’m an atheist.”

“Never turn your back on the ocean!”

There was a girl who burred her heart in a bucket of sand, and gave it to a boy. But instead of building as castle like she wanted him to do, he tipped it all over her orange hair, and then played with his trucks in the sand pit. Her first heart break. She cried and cried and cried when her mother made her wash her hair, and called her heart dirty.

“But I’m going to win her back.” He said with a cheaky grin on his face. “I’m gonna go over there and steal her away again.”
Smiles.

I want to be what I was, when I wanted to be what I am now

I can't really remember the name of it

found myself drinking wee drams of talisker with bob and georgie and john and kendel at a tiny pub in old town... twas was the size of a small room with everybody standing everywhere no room to move, sea of people tiding to the bar and out for a cigarette... band of four playing sitting with their backs to the wall in the corner near the door. and old worn fiddle played by a man with one cataracted eye... and beaten old guitar in the hands of a kriss kristoffison look alike, and two more hands and voices of old men playing their hands in... and the happy drunken crowd would always be screaming and songs hands clapping and the floors were beaten...

and if somebody trys to mug you in the meadows, just drunkenly run away... they're lazy.

Pull down all the stars, give them names call them whores... A few scars wont make you brave, feel like someone has just walked on your grave

Bob moved to barcelona with a girl form argentina...
nae-no
wee/tottie-little
wee dram-nip of whisky
beer-pint
twee-cute
hiya-hey
aye-yeah
mince and tatties-mince and potato stew
fesh sours-????? fish sour but you know how these things are

Sewer-side of the city

There is a city that is divided into the old town and the new, by a train station and a castle on a hill. The new town is just like any other city grid. Streets, shop (where you trade your soul for clothes) and shopping malls. (see trade your soul) The old town is filled with twisting cobblestone streets that melt over the side of the great hill, on which the castle is perched. There's alleyways through buildings of olden, stained stone wherein you can find ruins of an even older city ecased. Cities have sunk here and been rebuilt over. Ghost haunt the common streets as though they were dark houses on a hill. There's a cemetary in the centre, at the base of the castle, where monuments and stones still stand aslope. The names and dates fade, only the power of the words remain. If you stay in one plce long enough in this graveyard you get goosebumps, there is a different kind of chill in the wind... It's a stale dead one. The tiny droplets of rain fall just upon you to run the ink you write with, ensuring you can only take out of there what they desire you to hold. The castle is the only thing that keeps them in check, keeps them from roaming all over the city, cold and stale. It was the reason that the graveyard exists, It looked over when the first bones were layed and now it sees to it that they stay within the gates.

Thge city is filled with people that huddle and hold their coates close around themselves. To avoid the wind chill within the cold. They trudge though their lives and make their way though the world.

The Odyssey

Having conquered 81,587 thristy humans with 326,352 refreshing beverages, he decided to seek...

New adventures. Grabbing a lone chanderlier with shaker-strengthened grip, he swung & swung...

And up he went through a handy skylight...

And lo. What did he see on the horizon but a flying umbrella!..

And, clutching the umbrella with that selfsame muddling grip...

He sailed across the night to greener pastures...

Meanwhile back at the bar.