- from Monkey Miss Her Now (2004)
-
Robinsonade:
- The Dream (7/8-8/10/96) Tango Summer:
- Bookmarks (10-24/11/98) The Great New Zealand Vortex:
- Inconsequential (12/7/81)
- The Great New Zealand Vortex (26/2-10/5/97) Tahiti in 1978:
- Flying the moon (11-17/9/2000)
- Brought up on Homeric platitudes (30/8-14/9/2000)
- I is someone else (4-17/9/2000)
- Femme d’aujourd’hui (4-17/9/2000) A Strange Day at the Language School:
- Life Support (30/12/97-14/1/99)
- from Kingdom of Alt (2010)
-
Haiku Diary:
- Haiku 1-12 (4-18/3/04)
- Tanka 1-2 (18/3/04)
- Time to Kill (29/3/04)
- Tanka 3-4 (1/4/04)
- Haiku 13 (18/4/01) The Purloined Letter:
- Spleen (8/2/96)
- Before the Disaster:
- Just because you’re rich doesn’t make you gay (30/11/07-6/2/08)
- 30 at the roadworks = 50 (30/11/07-6/2/08)
- Les montagnes sont des bâtiments (30/10/06-3/12/07)
- Give Blood (26/1-7/2/08)
- 3 Sisters (26/1-7/2/08)
Coursebook found in a Warzone:
- U.P.: up (2/7-21/10/08)
- Dream Poem 1: Stalin’s Raven (4/10/89-18/12/06)
- Dream Poem 2: Party in the SCR (20/10/89-5/2/09)
- Dream Poem 3: Book-Sale (24/10/89-5/2/09)
- Dream Poem 4: A Glastonbury Romance (25/10/89-5/2/09)
- Dream Poem 5: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (27/1/90-5/2/09)
- Dream Poem 6: Claire’s Dream (21/5/90-5/2/09)
- Dream Poem 7: Malcolm O (22/5/90-5/2/09)
- Dream Poem 8: Ugolino (24/7/91-5/2/09)
- Dream Poem 9: The War (18/1/94-18/12/06)
- Dream Poem 10: Finland (31/5/94-5/2/09)
- Dream Poem 11: Lion’s Head (19/6/95-18/12/06)
- from Ghost Stories (2019)
-
Leaves from a Diary of the End of the World:
- 3 Mayan Poems:
- Lacandon-Maya Poem (6/3-23/3/13)
- Tzotzil-Maya Prayer (6/3-23/3/13)
- Yucatán-Maya Hunting Song (6/3-23/3/13)
The Cross-Correspondences:
- Chinese girl students (19/6/18-26/1/19)
- The waiter who’s brought (26/11/18-26/1/19)
- 3 Mayan Poems:
Monkey Miss Her Now & Everything a Teenage Girl Should Know. ISBN 0-476-00182-X. Auckland: Danger Publishing, 2004. 138 pp.
I dreamt a dream – What can it mean? – That Marianne came back to me On some jewelled beach in Tahiti. I doubt this presages a change (Though who can say? for love is strange) But while the message is obscure My joy was limitless and pure. I woke inside the darkling bach But somehow it was not so black. I felt she really had loved me Till parted by fatality.
(7/8-8/10/96)
Publications:
- "Robinsonade". Pander 2 (1997): 14-15.
- Monkey Miss Her Now & Everything a Teenage Girl Should Know. ISBN 0-476-00182-X (Auckland: Danger Publishing, 2004): 11-18.
- "Robinsonade." Jack Ross: Stories (18/8/96)
•
(10-24/11/98)
Publications:
- "Tango Summer". evasion 2 (2000): 20-27.
- Monkey Miss Her Now & Everything a Teenage Girl Should Know. ISBN 0-476-00182-X (Auckland: Danger Publishing, 2004): 31-43.
- "Tango Summer." Jack Ross: Stories (4/11/98)
•
I am a pipe the wind blows through,
This figure cannot dim
Inconsequential
Eremites of sorrow, or that twice-
Delivered tale
Of sufferings deluded from a fool. …
(11-17/9/2000)
Publications:
- "The Great New Zealand Vortex". evasion 2 (4) & (5) (2003).
- Monkey Miss Her Now & Everything a Teenage Girl Should Know. ISBN 0-476-00182-X (Auckland: Danger Publishing, 2004): 67-82.
- "The Great New Zealand Vortex." Jack Ross: Stories (26/2/97)
•
(30/8-14/9/2000)
Publications:
- "The Great New Zealand Vortex". evasion 2 (4) & (5) (2003).
- Monkey Miss Her Now & Everything a Teenage Girl Should Know. ISBN 0-476-00182-X (Auckland: Danger Publishing, 2004): 67-82.
- "The Great New Zealand Vortex." Jack Ross: Stories (26/2/97)
•
Flying the moon
like a kite
sight-lines
thumbed taut
white boat
on a blue sea
cloud looming
haze to darkness
remember me
(4-17/9/2000)
Publications:
- "Tahiti in 1978". brief 23 (2002): 36-50.
- Monkey Miss Her Now & Everything a Teenage Girl Should Know. ISBN 0-476-00182-X (Auckland: Danger Publishing, 2004): 52-66.
- "Tahiti in 1978." Jack Ross: Stories (22/9/2000)
•
Brought up on Homeric platitudes
we find no music in the wind
at day-break
dragons on silk
dressing-gowns confound
us
A time of sorrows
wasn’t that
before? I used to know
all that I didn’t know
you rowed
Oh yes
in armour
on the wine-dark sea
(4-17/9/2000)
Publications:
- "Tahiti in 1978". brief 23 (2002): 36-50.
- Monkey Miss Her Now & Everything a Teenage Girl Should Know. ISBN 0-476-00182-X (Auckland: Danger Publishing, 2004): 52-66.
- "Tahiti in 1978." Jack Ross: Stories (22/9/2000)
•
Able at times to cry
– W. H. Auden
I is someone else
surf-roar
Kai-iwi lakes
Someone else
up there? He drove
to check up anyway
like a train
one dragon eye
roar on pattens
pitter-patter
on the nylon
roof I told you
grass is good
to eat
you wouldn’t
listen
grass is good
to
Graze on needles then
(12/7/81)
Publications:
- "Tahiti in 1978". brief 23 (2002): 36-50.
- Monkey Miss Her Now & Everything a Teenage Girl Should Know. ISBN 0-476-00182-X (Auckland: Danger Publishing, 2004): 52-66.
- "Tahiti in 1978." Jack Ross: Stories (22/9/2000)
Notes:
- The quotation from W. H. Auden comes from the poem "As He Is", available in Collected Shorter Poems: 1927-1957. London: Faber, 1966): 117.
•
Jeanne Mas Sounds like
… et les photos my kind of girl
reviennent a funky beast
sans cesse … chickens gyrate
to the beat
(26/2-10/5/97)
Publications:
- "Tahiti in 1978". brief 23 (2002): 36-50.
- Monkey Miss Her Now & Everything a Teenage Girl Should Know. ISBN 0-476-00182-X (Auckland: Danger Publishing, 2004): 52-66.
- "Tahiti in 1978." Jack Ross: Stories (22/9/2000)
Notes:
- The allusion to French singer Jeanne Mas is to the song "Lola", available online at https://www.letras.com/mas-jeanne/54424/.
•
No doubt you’ve heard she’s combed – little In-Jae – the nurse told May and me A rupture in the wall of the blood-vessel: brain-stem injury She came here from Korea to learn English; she returns burned dry as dust Dead when we saw her (breathing still) … Perhaps the word was coned
(30/12/97-14/1/99)
Publications:
- "A Strange Day at the Language School". Landfall 203 (2002): 119-25.
- Monkey Miss Her Now & Everything a Teenage Girl Should Know. ISBN 0-476-00182-X (Auckland: Danger Publishing, 2004): 83-93.
- "A Strange Day at the Language School." Jack Ross: Stories (7/6/2001)
•
Kingdom of Alt. Short Stories & a Novella by Jack Ross. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8. Auckland: Titus Books, 2010. 244 pp.
Blue / red / blue chairs Elmo on the OHP looking both ways Nancy turns her head towards the stage-lights Grant walks up & down The cleaners leave carrying vacuums feet scuff on the ground Moon through the trees can that be water? streetlight filament hovers like a moth Better than a Boy T-shirt hung over the letter-box Batteries & bottle-tops beside a missing bus-stop ‘If you need a blood-test …’ – on a car Wild Appetite pulls out impatiently When the bus doesn’t come tow-trucks pull out in front of you street-light filaments hover above A plastic bag tied to a branch No vacancy Waiting for the bus again – people eye the stooge
(4-18/3/04)
Publications:
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 21-47.
- "Haiku Diary." Jack Ross: Stories (3/4/2004)
•
the gap between 28 & 35 – You might as well be 55 ‘Just letting you know I’m more important than anything you can buy …’ Girl behind me on a cell-phone
(18/3/04)
Publications:
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 21-47.
- "Haiku Diary." Jack Ross: Stories (3/4/2004)
•
Check out earplugs at the Mega-centre Take a walk along the beach Buy something Fizzy drink? Mars bar? 25 stubbies? Filling gaps in my address book Go home Turn on the TV Play patience (bus stops short defend your bag) I’d like to tell you how I ended up pricing those earplugs (bought a baseball bat instead)
(29/3/04)
Publications:
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 21-47.
- "Haiku Diary." Jack Ross: Stories (3/4/2004)
•
a is red heart b is two women (both talking on their mobile phones) c is six Chinese Sleeping rough in Albert Park under the lamposts – orange light – dancing down stairs
(1/4/04)
Publications:
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 21-47.
- "Haiku Diary." Jack Ross: Stories (3/4/2004)
•
soft darkness pressing in on us arc of electric light glow-worms under banks of earth
(18/4/01)
Publications:
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 21-47.
- "Haiku Diary." Jack Ross: Stories (3/4/2004)
•
I see myself as the King of a rainy land young but decrepit, rich but not a man despising all his tutors, frankly bored with his old hunting-dogs, an idle Lord whom nothing can amuse: hawks hunting blood the sight of his people dying in the mud the songs & antics of his licensed clown are powerless to interrupt his frown his lily bed has turned into a tomb those ladies who adorn a Prince’s room & who’d feel proud to spread their legs for him no longer can dress scantily enough to interest this skeleton in love the alchemist who turns lead into gold cannot melt down his Master in his mould & in those baths where the Romans cut their veins sole remedy for age’s acid pains he can’t reboot the heart of this cadaver whose blood has thinned to Lethe’s slime-green water – Charles Baudelaire, “Spleen” (1851)
(8/2/96)
Publications:
- "The Purloined Letter." brief #35 – A Brief World Order (2007): 14-33.
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 63-79.
- "The Purloined Letter." Jack Ross: Stories (5/10/2005)
Notes:
- The French text of the poem "Spleen" can be found at https://www.bonjourpoesie.fr/lesgrandsclassiques/Poemes/charles_baudelaire/spleen_je_suis_comme_le_roi_dun_pays_pluvieux.
•
from Before the Disaster
Just because you’re rich doesn’t make you gay
– bus conversation
I came out
It was 11.11
by the kitchen clock
•
I discovered about 4 pm that he was weakening
I therefore reminded him of the agreement
made before leaving camp
in case either of us should show signs of exhaustion
his comrade should tell him
in order that necessary steps
might be taken to prevent disaster
and I again urged upon him
the necessity of returning to the sleeping bag
for rest and shelter
•
Twice I’ve had this premonition
this time the hair stood up
on the back of my neck
•
on striking the first care is to catch the
line behind one leg so as to act as
a strong check and for farther security
a hitch is also taken round the ring
finger which sometimes can be terribly
lacerated and even torn off by
the struggles of a large victim the females
which have their young with them are far more to
be dreaded than the males every one
is distinguished by a particular
name and the angry repetition of
it has an effect as instantaneous
as an application of the whip which
instrument is of an immense length
•
Yesterday
while driving to Pt Chev
today in the same place coming back
•
I gave him some brandy and spirits of ammonia
which seemed to revive him
I now lighted the lamp and prepared some warm food
endeavoring to start him
in order to keep him from freezing
but it was all in vain
He was too weak to stand up
and his mind seemed to be taken up
with recollections of his relatives and friends at home
of whom he spoke
•
IT’S NOT
TOO LATE
DRIVE SOBER
•
opposite each other with the flat sides
parallel a neatly formed case contains
the bow and a few arrows a little
bag attached to the side contains a stone
for sharpening and some spare arrow-heads
carefully wrapped up in a piece of skin
the bow is held in a horizontal
position and though capable of great
force is rarely used at a greater distance
than from twelve to twenty yards we saw no
regular chase and as we could only
judge from report and from the expressive
pantomimic description of the hunters
I cannot pretend to furnish an account
•
Black plastic bag
hanging from a traffic light
two turns of twine around it
•
I felt more like remaining there
and perishing by the side of my companion
than to make another effort
but the sense of the duty which I owed
to bear back the sad tidings of the disaster
sustained me in this trial
I stopped and kissed the remains of my dead companion
and left them there for the wild winds to sweep over
The death of my companion made a deeper impression
on my mind than any experience my whole life
•
thinking that he might have
something on his person
I searched his clothing
(30/11/07-6/2/08)
Publications:
- "Before the Disaster". Percutio 2 (2008): 74-80.
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 105-26.
- "Before the Disaster." Jack Ross: Stories (30/11/2007)
Notes:
- Sergeant Frederick's report on the death of 'the bravest and noblest on the [Greely] expedition' [1881-1884] is quoted here from David L. Brainard, The Outpost of the Lost: An Arctic Adventure. 1929. Foreword by Geoffrey E. Clark (New York: Skyhorse, 2018).
- The account of seal-hunting [in bold] is quoted from George Francis Lyon, Private Journal During the Recent Voyage of Discovery Under Captain Parry (London: John Murray, 1824), pp. 329 et seq.
•
30 at the roadworks = 50
– Bumper Sticker
News Feed:
Tuesday January 8, 08:09 AM:
Fire sparks emergency response
There is a massive turnout of emergency services this morning
to a big fire in an office block in the coastal suburbs of
the City.
It is possible that people are trapped inside the building.
A huge plume of smoke is visible from the CBD.
Shore Road is blocked from Central Ave to Union Street.
Eleven fire engines, along with police and ambulance crews,
are there.
•
Pathologist's Report on the victims:
• Smoke-inhalation
• Lacerations, both deep and superficial
• (injuries consistent with breaking the glass of a window with one’s hands)
• Massive internal haemorrhaging
• (injuries consistent with a fall of several stories onto hard concrete below)
• Scorching (severe)
• Extensive third and fourth degree burns
(30/11/07-6/2/08)
Publications:
- "Before the Disaster". Percutio 2 (2008): 74-80.
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 105-26.
- "Before the Disaster." Jack Ross: Stories (30/11/2007)
•
Les montagnes sont des bâtiments
sur les collines de Wellington
fenêtres sur l’océan
– chanson française
A seagull wings ahead
of ink-black clouds
in a still sunlit sky
0800-SCRUB-4-U
on the side of a white car
having difficulties turning out
•
tipped-up dark glasses
in the HIACE
van
•
Boy walking up the hill
with three pieces of fruit
each in a plastic bag
Another boy walks
downhill
cellphone to his ear
•
a fragment of chicken clings
to plastic
clingfilm
•
Walking faster to avoid
saying hello
to the elderly neighbour
wheeling her groceries
up the long steep
slope
•
fish jumps from wine to spirits
the young girl in the dairy
seems to call you back
•
/ KNOCKED U P
/ PIRAT ES OF THE
CARIBBEAN 3
In the Post Office
decorations for Dhiwali
– everywhere
•
WORKS END
THANK
YOU
•
a natural instinct for
alliteration
in the child behind
Tina’s getting tired
observes her Mummy
hopefully
(30/10/06-3/12/07)
Publications:
- "Before the Disaster". Percutio 2 (2008): 74-80.
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 105-26.
- "Before the Disaster." Jack Ross: Stories (30/11/2007)
•
Give blood
go skateboarding
– Boy’s T-shirt
I’m going to wear jandals
today
taking a walk
on the wild side
when you just know
there’s nothing
they can
do to you
a tentative attempt
becomes the hero’s
salmon leap
our cat Zero
’s attack
on a blank
puppet
made of calico
I fulminate
to captive audiences
(taking the piss
no doubt
in furtive whispers)
not
the leap of faith
we bargained on
the fear that dogs our days
(26/1-7/2/08)
Publications:
- "Before the Disaster". Percutio 2 (2008): 74-80.
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 105-26.
- "Before the Disaster." Jack Ross: Stories (30/11/2007)
- "The Zero Suite." Papyri (2/5/23)
•
3 sisters
^^ ^^ ^^
– T-shirt logo
Have you slimed yet?
the Aussie Sheila
asks
the uptight city Brit
lowering the tone
I guess he’d call it
she
keeping it real
a certain inconsistency
of purpose
characters
attracted & repelled
by the same things
from frame to frame
the more
jaded they are
the less alluring
a fashion-conscious
6-year-old
chased crabwise
by the surf
(26/1-7/2/08)
Publications:
- "Before the Disaster". Percutio 2 (2008): 74-80.
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 105-26.
- "Before the Disaster." Jack Ross: Stories (30/11/2007)
•
I thought of a story about an Academic one who hadn’t noticed he was dead because they never opened up the windows in his room He sat there at his desk book-ended by his filing cabinets fading patterns on the wall where his photographs had been From time to time he’d look up from the pages of last century’s quarterlies see that day had shifted into dusk & the streetlights had come on The air was stale in there he didn’t care no need to tweak & update the same old lectures now • “U.P.: Up” – Ulysses I asked you to define it for me once you couldn’t not to my satisfaction anyway I wonder if you’ll find it easier alone there in the dark pebbles in your pockets chattering to anyone who’ll listen? Ave atque Vale then to your Van Dyke beard defiant little puku amused bravado whatever you deserved it wasn’t this embarrassed silence these absurd periphrases this hermetically-sealed chamber whose contents must at the stroke of dawn turn into dust
(2/7-21/10/08)
Publications:
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 127-239.
- "Coursebook found in a Warzone: A Whodunit." Jack Ross: Stories (11/6/2008)
•
I dreamt of a kind of fool, a court jester
beaten with sticks, me watching, heavy
blows on shoulders, back & legs.
Meanwhile
a parallel unfolded, a black raven
pecking at other birds in a great mass
of feathers, sawdust: like a sand-pit.
The court, somehow, was Stalin's – like a Tsar.
A group of doctors stood around a bed,
– white masks, white faces – tending to his wounds.
Was I one? Maybe not.
Then the pip
of the alarm. Not a nightmare, though the blows
& pecking stabbed at me as well: onlooker
on the fringes of the scene.
(4/10/89-18/12/06)
Publications:
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 127-239.
- "Coursebook found in a Warzone: A Whodunit." Jack Ross: Stories (11/6/2008)
•
Kept up till late by shouting, banging, name called through the floor – I dreamed (after much brooding) of a course of studies, me explaining it – the essays, marks, requirements – in the upstairs party room, St. Leonard's. Claire was there, & Russell. As I spoke the bell went off & woke me – but, before, there was such an atmosphere of "learned life," the 50s, greyness, purpose & (I find I'm writing) snow.
(20/10/89-5/2/09)
Publications:
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 127-239.
- "Coursebook found in a Warzone: A Whodunit." Jack Ross: Stories (11/6/2008)
•
The basement of a Department store – levels, escalators, floors. Long lines of tables covered with old books – myself too late to pick them up, waylaid, encountered, glimpses from above. A chase. Directions to Japanese how best to reach the ground (arms wide: this floor & that floor), aided by the guard. Somewhere my friends with bundles, racking up a score.
(24/10/89-5/2/09)
Publications:
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 127-239.
- "Coursebook found in a Warzone: A Whodunit." Jack Ross: Stories (11/6/2008)
•
A kind of psychomachia – our group
in an old house with a well outside, stone steps,
sorting our weapons: little twists of glass
or plastic for enemies, round silver coins for us.
The novel's world – outside, green lawns,
the sea, a group of tramps collecting coins
(one tried to hand his on – promptly rebuked
by a door that opened to show a bearded man
– our Leader?) Somewhere were dragons, foes,
collecting too.
Then, back inside (elsewhere?)
a story started. I told them (to illustrate some point)
about Haile Selassie's Abyssinian fleet
of white Rolls Royces – till the alarm-clock rang.
(25/10/89-5/2/09)
Publications:
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 127-239.
- "Coursebook found in a Warzone: A Whodunit." Jack Ross: Stories (11/6/2008)
•
I woke up in a futuristic city –
like a T.V. set, flimsy steel & spools
of wire – was told that I had won
some prize (a bowl of soup, perhaps)
got up & wandered – soon found a lounge
where bozos were admiring their TV
(then showing credits), shouting for ‘Who wants to be
a Millionaire?' The camera showed
(was I the camera?) a studio set with girl
in jeans & headphones, professional clip-board
behind the tangle – lounge furniture in front.
Suited, with briefcase, the MC
entered, made a double-take, turned round & left,
then came back in. The girl joined him on stage.
The questions started – poems – MC: 'Gibbons?'
She answered; 'with their sounding harpstrings – Blake.'
The MC asked her for a marshy region
plagued with Tsetse flies –'Haiti?' –
No – the girl answered 'the something game reserve
in Kenya.' Then a question went awry
– I don't know what – forcing the audience’s
meters up. Just one solution. Bang!
(Their water turned to fire – the host explained –
leaving them heaps of ash.) The game continued,
the girl & MC gone (I loved her);
time for me to collect
my prize?
(27/1/90-5/2/09)
Publications:
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 127-239.
- "Coursebook found in a Warzone: A Whodunit." Jack Ross: Stories (11/6/2008)
•
‘It must have been a Friday – in a tram,
an old one, passing by the Halls,
the rough holes in its walls,
the tram-conductor told me, caused by falling stones.
Then, when we arrived, & I got down
two parcels wrapped in string
were handed to me – I thought nothing
of it – unwrapped, one held the head
of the conductor with, carved on his bald crown,
the message: “Your turn now'”– inside the other
a mangy monkey, stuffed; I asked my mother
& father's help – “Here, you're on your own”.’
The haunted towers, old tram, conductor's head,
malign, stuffed monkey – told to me in bed.
‘I didn’t worry. It was as if they were all dead
& it was happening to an alter ego ...’
(21/5/90-5/2/09)
Publications:
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 127-239.
- "Coursebook found in a Warzone: A Whodunit." Jack Ross: Stories (11/6/2008)
•
In a bookshop – not unlike James Thin's –
a sale in progress, picked up many:
Thackeray's works bound into one, a book
called Malcolm O by Carlos Fuentes, shelves
for South America (green Penguin classic:
Return from Argentina). Then – it seemed the future –
taken in the street & packed on board a
bus, with several others. Driver, guard,
both women – we knew they meant to kill us.
The bus was built like Sweeney Todd's – a rack
& mincer down below – after each stop the 'catch'
disposed of. Talked to the girls. They liked me,
said they'd save me, but – I'd have to hide.
Took me to suburban home (motel?)
My name now Malcolm O (like Jackie X?).
inside Securitate took me to a room
with globe & leather chairs – & questioned me,
I answered for my life – a casual drawl.
Somehow unworried, knew they'd let me go
because Meg Tilly, Amy Madigan
(girls looked quite like them, slight,
dressed in combat pants) were covering
for me.
(22/5/90-5/2/09)
Publications:
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 127-239.
- "Coursebook found in a Warzone: A Whodunit." Jack Ross: Stories (11/6/2008)
•
I was going down Victoria St – in some foreign city –
& ducked in to a film called Ugolino
(maybe Brussels?). A jail-bird – long, hard face,
lank hair, good body – had just been released.
His progress, though, was slow.
A jumble of ruined chances, chatted-up girls,
quick knife-fights, till he turned & ran.
It ended on a sour note with poor Ugolino,
a face at a small window, driven off
to jail.
But then the story continued.
Back in prison, alone in a holding cell,
the prison trusty – a small boy – was there.
Somehow he squeezed inside the cell (naked,
black with oil) to comfort Ugolino for his loss:
outside. Next thing, the two were walking
through a car-park – the prison car-park – Ugo
with a trolley (supermarket?), the boy right by his side.
He joined a queue, the boy was walking off
– accosted by the guards, who took him back –
dissolve on Ugo, waiting in the queue.
Next
back in town, Ugo persuaded his girlfriend
to hide him in her flat after a quarrel.
She loved him; not he her. Eventually they parted,
but Ugo kept on coming back, after all.
Scenery shift: In a car, a rocky valley
(Highlands? West Coast?), Claire remarked
She’d love to see America – Philadelphia – & we
(me & the good ol’ boys) decided to go there
with her. We got ourselves a job in Repertoire
– Gilbert & Sullivan – in the chorus (Russell
As a stage-hand), ended up jubilant.
Ugo was part-Canadian (from Montreal?);
The rest a transposition to low-key.(24/7/91-5/2/09)
Publications:
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 127-239.
- "Coursebook found in a Warzone: A Whodunit." Jack Ross: Stories (11/6/2008)
•
I ran into an old friend on the street
(the scene: some future, broken-down New York)
she & her boyfriend were wearing overalls
& emptying the trash into a long
& complicated articulated machine.
They greeted me: “Whatcha doing here?”
I answered: “Hustling, since out of labour camp.”
(I'd turned the corner from another world,
a hotel run by gangsters – on the desk
a cute, dark girl – Helena? – I'd addressed
in Chinitalian – their password:
Chinese-Italian – no nod from upstairs …
“But Boss, the dormitory sleeps sixteen!”)
Kate & her boyfriend sympathised with me –
the lucky ones, they'd been here doing this
all through the war – & now were moving house
to look after an apartment for a friend.
We got to talking – the friend had not been keen
on all their safety clothing – Kate confided.
“He told us that your body gets slip-streamed
from years of this exposure, so no problem.”
I told her (I think truly) this was false
“You must keep your protection – if he minds
construct a hallway closet with your things
ready for each morning – or else you'll die."
Kate – slim, smooth dark-blonde hair – had changed,
her hair was spikey, strung-out, she looked tired –
the opening, I felt, for something else.
(18/1/94-18/12/06)
Publications:
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 127-239.
- "Coursebook found in a Warzone: A Whodunit." Jack Ross: Stories (11/6/2008)
•
I was in Finland, sitting in a pew,
hearing a church choir singing (out of tune).
A lovely blonde, with highlights in her hair,
(my future bride), her father, & her brother
were sitting by me. I, a picaro,
persuaded that their land needed new blood
– new victims rather – idly protested
my ignorance of their language.
An interlude,
& there I was again – inside a hall,
an amphitheatre rather, again a choir
(a larger one this time) singing out of tune
though guided by a master. A bearded man,
short, stocky – Father-in-law to be –
stood up to make a speech, & was clubbed down.
The hall was pandemonium – fear of foreigners?
The girl was screaming, I was caught & tied.
The Finns sent me in exile, chains & fetters
around my wrists.
Her brother, fettered too,
was with me in a little hut.
He learnt to strangle wolves & rabbits
with his chains, & nursed me back to health.
The girl was in disgrace; I saw her in the distance;
left well enough alone – until the bell.
(31/5/94-5/2/09)
Publications:
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 127-239.
- "Coursebook found in a Warzone: A Whodunit." Jack Ross: Stories (11/6/2008)
•
Not an erotic dream – a dream of flight
& slaughter. The chase has bloody roots.
Fleeing from a cabin full of death
(boyfriend among the dead), our girl
– shorts, t-shirt – waves down a white car.
The driver is an easy-going bozo, believes her,
pedal to the metal, u-turn with a roar.
[Next scene:]
They are discovered, having driven
miles & miles, inside a cheap motel.
Startled, late at night, they drive off the back porch
down onto clay, a grassless slope, with new-laid roads
ending in the concrete slipway for a dam.
The choice is simple,
a boy below looks up – they kill him,
then offer up his burnt corpse. Above, inside the room,
three figures wait – a lion’s head among them.
Is the sacrifice accepted? Who can tell?
They find the car, roar off on a dead end,
bump over grass ... till woken by a squeal,
a set of squeals – or barks? – or mechanistic
screeches.
Nightmare-like, dissolves.
(19/6/95-18/12/06)
Publications:
- Kingdom of Alt. ISBN 978-1-877441-15-8 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2010): 127-239.
- "Coursebook found in a Warzone: A Whodunit." Jack Ross: Stories (11/6/2008)
•
Ghost Stories. 978-0-9951165-5-9. 99% Press. Auckland: Lasavia Publishing, 2019. 140 pp.
3 Mayan Poems:
Every time I lift my foot
every time I lift my hand
I shift my tail
I hear your voice from far away
I’m searching for a fallen tree
tired now
I'll fall asleep on the fallen tree
My skin
My ears
my hands
my feet
are scratched
(6/3-23/3/13)
Publications:
- "3 Mayan Poems". brief 49 (2013): 60-65.
- "Leaves from a Diary of the End of the World." brief 53 (2015): 80-97.
- Ghost Stories. 978-0-9951165-5-9. 99% Press (Auckland: Lasavia Publishing, 2019): 35-52.
- "Leaves from a Diary of the End of the World." Jack Ross: Stories (6/2/2013)
Notes:
- Text from M. Demetrio Sodi, La literatura de los Mayas. 1964. El Legado de la América Indígena (México: Editorial Joaquín Mortiz, S. A., 1974): 81.
•
Green fire
aërial fog
be epilepsy
yellow fire
be epilepsy
north wind
be epilepsy
narcolepsy
white mist
be epilepsy
I repel it
repel it nine times
I expel it
expel it nine times
pacify it
pacify it nine times
Lord
in an hour
half an hour
fly away
into the fog
fly away
as a butterfly
Slow your big pulse
slow your small pulse
both of them
within the hour
half an hour
So be it
Lord
send it away
over thirteen mountains
over thirteen hills
stop at thirteen rows of rocks
stop at thirteen rows of trees
(6/3-23/3/13)
Publications:
- "3 Mayan Poems". brief 49 (2013): 60-65.
- "Leaves from a Diary of the End of the World." brief 53 (2015): 80-97.
- Ghost Stories. 978-0-9951165-5-9. 99% Press (Auckland: Lasavia Publishing, 2019): 35-52.
- "Leaves from a Diary of the End of the World." Jack Ross: Stories (6/2/2013)
Notes:
- Text from M. Demetrio Sodi, La literatura de los Mayas. 1964. El Legado de la América Indígena (México: Editorial Joaquín Mortiz, S. A., 1974): 81, 89 & 34-35.
•
Hunter from the mountains
hunt
at the edge of the grove
once
twice
dance
three times
Lift your face
look carefully
make no mistake
about your prize
Have you sharpened your arrows?
Have you strung your bow?
Have you stroked your shaft
with catzim resin?
Have you greased your arms
your feet your knees
your calves your ribs
your waist your chest
with buck-deer fat?
Lap three times
the coloured stone
where the spotless virgin
youth
is tied
First run
second
take your bow
nock your arrow
against his chest
shoot him
– not so hard as that! –
let him suffer
as God wills
Lap again
the blue-green stone
shoot him again
but don’t stop dancing
that's how we measure
warriors
men pleasing
in the eyes of God
The sun breaks through
the eastern trees
the archer starts to sing
his song
learning to be
a warrior
learning to run and dance
and kill
(6/3-23/3/13)
Publications:
- "3 Mayan Poems". brief 49 (2013): 60-65.
- "Leaves from a Diary of the End of the World." brief 53 (2015): 80-97.
- Ghost Stories. 978-0-9951165-5-9. 99% Press (Auckland: Lasavia Publishing, 2019): 35-52.
- "Leaves from a Diary of the End of the World." Jack Ross: Stories (6/2/2013)
Notes:
- Text from M. Demetrio Sodi, La literatura de los Mayas. 1964. El Legado de la América Indígena (México: Editorial Joaquín Mortiz, S. A., 1974): 81, 89 & 34-35.
•
Chinese girl students
taking selfies
without cameras
through the perspex
bus-stop
Watching through the
the windscreen
I debate
is this the end
prepared for me?
I feel a poem
coming on
I wish it were
much better
more nuanced
more profound
(19/6/18-26/1/19)
Publications:
- Ghost Stories. 978-0-9951165-5-9. 99% Press (Auckland: Lasavia Publishing, 2019): 94-118.
- "The Cross-Correspondences." Jack Ross: Stories (4/6/2018)
•
The waiter who’s brought
my room-service tray
two or three times
catches my eye
at breakfast
wanting to be recognised?
I’m not quick enough
so he turns back
disappointed
the others just scowl
(26/11/18-26/1/19)
Publications:
- Ghost Stories. 978-0-9951165-5-9. 99% Press (Auckland: Lasavia Publishing, 2019): 94-118.
- "The Cross-Correspondences." Jack Ross: Stories (4/6/2018)
•
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