Arrogant Reign

Arrogant rain
spits violence in my face
whatever way I turn;
pursuing and taunting.
Spiteful playground bullies
and malefic Brandt line despots alike
yearn for such unassailable power.
So what recourse have I -
here on this shelterless street?

Neither protest nor revolution
can threaten to turn or topple this
regime of icy wetness.
And yet somewhere in the lining of this coat
must linger a scent of Jacobin conspiracy,
because my spirit refuses to be broken.
Each forward step has become an act of resistance,
calling forward the day
when I will stand -
here on this shelterless street -
and bathe my face in the light
of a gentle and gracious sun.

Crew

with thick black pens
we scrawl our names
and with chromium blades
we etch our slogans
embellishing our identities
on your glassy newness
a pack of hidden faces
gambling on the turn of life’s next card

heat from the five-oh
raises Marijuana pulses
and liberates sticky soles
from the gum strewn street
augmenting our attitudes
towards your Democracy
maverick colour seekers
with black and white dice loaded against us

Conscience

What future for a city
When the seers become the seared?
When the Looking Glass is lost?
and blind to our disfigurement we crash on.
History chooses not to watch;
She turns her face from the ugliness of our excess
Perhaps tomorrow will bring a tissue
To wipe the paint from this old moll’s face?

What future for me
When my edges become exaggerated?
When my roller-coaster has so much height
and so little anchorage.
Has calamity become inevitability?
Or will Humility’s voice restore to me the day
I first heard back the echo of the street
in the dark alleys of my own heart.