light and bitter
sunday lunchtime
with my father
in the cemetery
wind striking stone
beating conflict
bearing down
scratched on a head
marking the days
four poems prowl
as i fly into deeds
that bought me up
for change
to bring me into line
to put me in these lines
the imagery awakes
and in this mist of time
this son of york
moves effortlessly
‘mongst the pines
a slicing of anxiety that lies
most pale in the moonlight
witness the nervous prayer
vistas that were there for us
a very useful sunset
once more cut adrift
lover-to-be – begin
sex and secularity
show boats in the drink
adolescent agitprop revisited
a really low shuck scuttle
across the backs
of daunting zebras
leap or they’ll come for you
get down on the blanket then
harsh noise too dark
once i was a walking erection
entitlement personified
lewd passions break neck
runaway class
runaway signs
sonic experiments
ranging from riffs
exclude ecstasy
include instances
you know
she whispered
you do know
gentle then
gentlemen
we are subjects
of the author
of his latest
and the world won’t end
oh delighting one
after all you will
after all you’ve seen
full-lotus on the mantelpiece
a technique to be admired
move on to more familiar hypnosis
twist yourself into a tree
incendiary personal collections
consisting of salacious clips
behaviour can be useful
a fortune on the pools
north carolina is drowning
and she is a million years old
in his pocket lies your breathing
modern psychology fries
wavemakers made off
with my waking
red brick telephone lines
yes sir she does have two kidneys
racists are usually thick
the meat grinder has read your note
but you are not excused
a hundred-thousand potbellies
can’t be wrong
and personal chemistry
can only take you so far
this blend of surreal chicanery
is remaining
weaving opening pieces
and having to make do
so cease your
fashionable scuttling
i also find that
quite contrived
we held
we necked
as first rains
hit the carriage
we decoded the typology
and oh what fun we had
live streaming the event
simplify and exemplify
or you will be disturbed
try to exercise
begin to form softness
sink into self-defence
only partly consume yourself
more profit for the shucksters
out ways means way out
sullen leaps from the parapet
my stares have been changed
and both are rather weary now
coffee brews with queer desires
following which and taking it on
take what you want and get it to shore
farewell yearning cobra
cats that ridge their backs
time to find
the dreamlike
frame mind
abiding buttered cool
blue-tiled pools and pixled fools
furnish them with everything
be unconscious mind i said
call it out then mother-hen
and this is what that feels like
it creeps into you backwards
with its bug eyes on your feet
on a tight leash
fold and unfold
as the woodland comes to life
in surroundings
i wave she waving
must run
rice cake wars
once factories made sure
still jolly reader
really bad got bored
rather than wait
the creature stirred
who would have thought
of virgin lands
with ringing crystals
so debauched
who then is watching
this unprecedented growth
through a soft lens
reach for a cigarette
vodka
this world
has become a dark world
murdering catamites
behind a white picket fence
what is on offer
we bring you plate
ransom note
thought circuits bathed in flaming gravy
simple weird moments in a deep bass slot
fine dimly wondered march acoustics
sirloin beef broils there bypassing breath
this infernal whooping through my mucus
has transformed the cold machinery of war
break out the psalms and trance-like simul-
ations before the god of winds caresses
your last breath counting your sleeps in a
sound-proofed chamber recycling waste
for a jollier death my knees have turned
against me and now they’re spreading so
there’s little else left here for me to do oh
damn your dreams fish don’t want air and
many more besides a little bit of ghostly’s
gone astray go check for mail and mow
the lawn and throw your groceries in the
bin this must we see it cannot be it flows
through graduated forms a stasis tube
containing light a play with something
different new concerns providing stranger
personal effects aesthetic coffins ripened
love buds please dear uncle am i then the
one am i a shade of energy pulsating in
and out of love of time not out of hate of
signs but talk of peace that mimics all
the body’s core and fights what should
have made a difference and yet
appears in more and more degrading
revelations force fed into my conscious
mind it’s what is endlessly desired
discover walks and roots in forestation
that renew then take up huge amounts
of time – the moments must so easily
slip by be still and concentrate as best
you can with myra hindley on your
knee a flash of bottled radishes pressed
uo against your spine that so inflames
the rash that your humanity decries
irrational darkening dream status
a sinistere mouths
and my glass eye rolls
left arm draped
in a short space
stake gibbet and cross
and repent
base pernicious
and degrading
fire and sword
from lip to ear
crystallised
into a creed
prenatal memory
cognition
black fire town
once there was
a red hot poker
now there’s only
central heating
shadow travellers
offend
a sort of rising
for a few
like-minded friends
and what is left
is postmarked quarantine
daisy gristle welts
green gnomes here lie
and their chunks
anastasia was disposed of
lady chatterley's
a broken tuba now
her topical mouth
is a gift shop
but it’s closed
whose contraption
am i strapped upon
the master-key
is in their hands
and i believe
they watch my dreams
through apertures extending into space
Eddie Heaton studied innovative and experimental poetry under the tutelage of post-modern poet and educator Keith Jebb, achieving a first-class honours degree. He also won the 2021 Carcanet Award for Creative Writing. His work has been extensively published in a number of prestigious literary journals.
