Substance Abuse

a piece of news
in platitudes
hybrid hyper media
seconded to
a lesser kind of life
a soft intelligence
far from cut up
rearranged
reconstituted
just opaque
shamelessly profane
this is
a lesser kind of
layer cake
more a multilevel glass box
fixed together with
the filaments of yesterday
& the lifeblood
of tomorrow’s dreams.

http://nzartist.blogspot.com/

Hey everyone, I just realised I was starting to post a lot more photographs and art than I meant to on this blog which is supposed to be dedicated to my writing. So, I have just put the finishing touches on a new blog devoted to showcasing my artistic works. You can find it here. I hope you enjoy my work and if you like it please subscribe and share the link. Cheers.

Annual Commemoration of the Divine Passion

You eclipse me & I have stained the Sun with black love . . .
death from a bottle cools my ardour
for a while, until I see you again.

The damp distance is bleached
then blackened with shadows
& flocks of shrill birds, screaming for blood

Bound hands grow swollen
body – silently numbed
a bed on fire I laid upon
now reddened with burning life

In these blistered hours of insomnia
objects are like lead
I believe they are other things & less than they are
as if fewer of them would create
a stillness like sleep
— if only to dream of her again

The cushions beckon in the mirror
white & summoning, judicious
the bed reflected in that fantasy land,
that round pool of hope

Why stir dust on a sacred tomb
as I lay down with a prayer for darkness
a snowflake melts on her virgin eyelids
somewhere & now, together again
we drink every breath of poisoned air
she asleep, I awake . . .

Not believing in resurrection —
I stroll through cemeteries
looking for her name, not wanting to see it
the damp brown earth reminds me
every hour we breathe is our last;
victims don’t want blind skies
their toil & consistency as mortals
are truer religions than faith itself,
so welcome me as one of them — into your house.

The last star’s neon spark
will be dissolved painlessly.
Morning will knock on the window, still —
like a grey wet wind
slow day will begin to stir.
Livestock shiver in the cold dawn,
some kind of slaughterhouse morn
the blood drained dreams
dissipate, replaced by
perpetual sameness . . .

Awakened from a long dark dream,
I thought I saw her somewhere in there
the awesome force of sleep’s return
shut me down like wild song
like black amphibious wine
a hollow ghost —
peering senselessly through the cold
window of every lost night

This morning once again
on motionless ground,
& along with it
drinking cold mountain air outside;
refined air, once, our air . . .

Across the crisp cool valley — white snow
blue mountains of decrepit glass & dream
dissolve, in this fresh green brocade

Hope sparkles in the diamond dew
that mirrors the sun
for a minute
while across the way, beyond this place
despair draws its dark curtain of cloud
over the broken road;
another day annexed,
closer to you again, I come.



This poem was written as a bit of a homage to Osip Mandelstam. If you haven't read any of his poetry then I recommend you do - far superior to most of the dross being produced these days!!!

Around Town: Wellington Zoo for real

Went to the Wellington Zoo the other day (true story this time) with bubz and another newage dad and his two offspring. A beautiful day kicked off with a Velluto coffee from the café of the same name. The Zoo was busy as usual with ominous groups of school children lurking at the side entrance, set to invade. Pushing on (we had prams) we picked up the pace for a quick walk to the top - the kids seemed to like the Ostrich, any kind of monkey, the sun bears and the Giraffe. I was surprised by the proximity of the new Giraffe enclosure as you can basically touch the creatures when they poke their inquisitive heads up to the manuka fence for a nosy. Hopefully this does not prove an issue re. human/animal contact issues later on. Anyway, managed to snap some pics as you can see - unfortunately none of the lion but some reasonable shots of the lioness. Maybe next week will bring some fresh pics and some more good weather.

Around Town: Wellington Zoo

Recreation of Actual Events on a smaller scale somewhere else!


Wellington Zoo. For the last few years there have been continuing issues with people climbing over the Zoo fence after hours. The local council and Zoo officials have remedied the problem by installing a 7000-volt electrical fence around the perimeter. Despite the new measures, resounding screams have been heard late at night as frugal zoo patrons still try to access the Zoo’s attractions nocturnally. Local residents have reported the screams that usually occur between the hours of midnight and 2am Friday thru Sunday. The human screams usually precede a raucous cacophony of baboon, chimpanzee and various angry animal noises.

Accident and Emergency Staff at the nearby Hospital have treated ten patients so far this year for electrical burns. Charge Nurse, Gina Jaja said that many of the injurious were superficial although they have had a few that were quite serious. One in particular, where a drunken teenage male managed to straddle the top of the fence before suffering bad electrical burns to his testicles. Apparently he had only been wearing a pair of nylon swimming trunks and had brushed his private parts on the top of the fence as he was attempting to launch himself into the man-made lake around the gibbon enclosure.

Zoo officials have made no apologies for the fence and since news reports publicized the injuries were quite confident that the intruder rate had dropped to nil. Police officials and nearby residents however have noticed a disturbing trend of drunk teenagers attempting to “climb the wall.” Like lemmings, the drunks take turns seeing who can outdo each other withstanding electrical shocks. “I have seen more than one of these idiots actually knock themselves out by licking the livewire whilst standing on their equally idiotic friend’s shoulders. It would be quite comical if it wasn’t so pathetic,” said Harold Dimwingle from the nearby Newtown Apartments. “We can nearly set our clocks by these retards. Me and a few mates from the RSA come down here at midnight on a Saturday and have a few brandies while waiting for these clowns and their ridiculous antics!”

Around Town: local in-depth news straight to you

One of the 'Little Bastards'

The Newtown Council Apartments Building, Block B



Wellington, Newtown. Possums that climb drainpipes at the council flats in Newtown have long been a problem for the residents and more importantly the landlords. Now a possible solution has been found by one of the tenants who live on the thirteenth floor of Apartment block B. Noticing that the drainpipe was made from a conductive material, Arnold B Wingthrop, a retired electrical contractor, unscrewed a lamp from its electrical cord and attached the flex with duct-tape to the drainpipe fixture outside his window. Within days a pile of scorched possums lay stacked at the base of the drainpipe. Local stray dogs have been disposing of the barbequed rodents but there have been a few incidents where some animals have touched the downpipe and fried as a result. Mr Wingthrop stated, “the little bastards got what they deserved. They’ve been shimmying up that bloody drainpipe and pinching things out of my apartment for months now!” Neighbouring residents have complained that the apartment block now ‘looks like a friggin’ radio tower at night’ because the electrified drainpipe glows in the dark. The day after we interviewed Mr Wingthrop, the first of the Autumn rains fell, which upon contact with the electrified down-pipe, resulted in a massive electrical fault that blew out half of the suburb’s power supply, including the local hospital’s. Police are interrogating Mr Wingthrop about the incident.

breakdown of the suburban mind

Watched David Lynch's 'Inland Empire' last night. Blew my mind with its brilliance. Very subjective viewing but amazingly surreal - like a broken dream, a barbituate stumbling night out not knowing where you're going or where you've been. Least of all - thought provoking. Highly recommended. Check out this site for more details.