Decalogue (or, Let’s Get Stoned)

mosesShort poem written for ‘Mark III’ magazine, on the subject of BLASPHEMY. The Ten Commandments still make me laugh.


I try not to kill. I cannot always help it.

Though I sometimes

Feel prickles of sadness watching

Fly-whisks scrape the soles of old men

And battering billions of unseen lives

Next to undrinkable, plastic flowing

River ducts down south.

We came back to England soon after,

Ate roast beef whilst toying with beads

(I blame my parents, so does he).

Oh for God’s sake – I cannot help it

The man at number four

Has some luck, for sure. See her bent

At the waist, washing the roof of

Another new car, her anklets shimmering

In the light, as I spend another Sunday

(Or is it Saturday? I can’t keep track)

Catching up on work, teeth stained red,

Fingers yellowed on my flatmate’s fags.

We spent last night complaining

About the noise next door.

Oh, and so you know,

I am not yet married.

3 Comments

  1. carly eloise said,

    February 19, 2009 at 12:19 pm

    I really really enjoyed this one,by far my favourite.And,certaintly more interesting than the pinter play im trying to digest.I love that it reeks of bitterness and cynicsm,you can almost smell it.It reminds me of La chute dans le temps a lot.

  2. benchic said,

    February 19, 2009 at 12:22 pm

    Oh! Thats cool. Its supposed to be sort of funny, a droll look at the ten commandments (the ‘Decalogue’ of the title). But yes, I suppose it is rather cynical!
    Nowt wrong with Pinter, mind.

  3. carly eloise said,

    February 20, 2009 at 10:43 am

    Oh I love pinter,he hasnt got anything on you though.I love reading your writing,i could get lost in it for hours.I like how every piece you write seems to a new piece of your persona,like uncovereing a new layer.I will be first in line for your novel.


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