Want if you will (first published in Desperately Seeking Alex)
This part (of the story)
could be cut.
A boy with his lips
to a keyhole
A friend with his head
on one side
A child fighting air
for a marble
A dog-collar waiting
to dry.
The principle actor
is quitting
The script-writer
doesn't know why
The director is fucking
the starlet
Her father is waiting
outside.
The boy's given up
on the keyhole
The producer says
"Want if you will."
The child plunges after
the marble
and sinks as his lungs
fill with silt.
could be cut.
A boy with his lips
to a keyhole
A friend with his head
on one side
A child fighting air
for a marble
A dog-collar waiting
to dry.
The principle actor
is quitting
The script-writer
doesn't know why
The director is fucking
the starlet
Her father is waiting
outside.
The boy's given up
on the keyhole
The producer says
"Want if you will."
The child plunges after
the marble
and sinks as his lungs
fill with silt.
Comments
Great stuff
You have succomb to its wanton ways I see.
Normally I wince at it's use because it seems so bereft of meaning but it works here genuinely well and does signal that all is not well.
I adore the prefacing line before the plunge into this warped little blighter it frames the poem well.
Darkness through song, shadow in the light and all that stuff.
It's great x