sean burn
gowke-meat
               (inspired by john giorno's welcoming the flowers)
sean burn's vispo exhibition still alone in her voices about hearing voices ran in newcastle, england until the end of may and is now touring. his third full volume of poetry is that a bruise or a tattoo? is still available from www.shearsman.com/browse-poetry-books-by-author-sean-burn.
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gowke-meat
               (inspired by john giorno's welcoming the flowers)
been the longest day
is the shortest night
here in st leningrad
happiest before (i)
born burn brunt
my youngest having
felled me previous
vie vial velocity
bro/sis like 1991
meeting in rainblow
yu having just died
again
the dub hyper
its run whelp run
far beyond th'ozone
where stars busy
being born
are busy dying
the tear-dropped
eye minarets
minor threat
minimise regrets
they auto-tune the chants
sell shares in wolves
eat assault rifles
& smart-water
while electric cablings
spun from here to jarrow
no taiga on the metro
but then we're
losing it like hell
across siberia
leonid brezhnev
breast-boning
my carriage now
- he's looking tanned
the 47 kinds ov kalashnikov
imprinted white on black
across his back
eyebrows beetling
bloodclots & sunspots
yr meat & yes i'm all knife
together we padlock(ed)
our kin-doms rage
rage/d raging
brakes calling to steel
a gaggle ov geese
storms & winter palaces
a gag ov release
rowds ov wd-be lenins
the securitat/e ov bees
historys a long way down
& the light dont go
hand in hand w/ yu
my frost pea(r)led g/love
daughter/son bridging
archaos to our-chaos
the circus willing legs open
theres a reason why
election rhymes w/ erection
who's the next feeble prick
to lead these nations
ov(er) the edge?
discus/s decease desist
art ov pain
nailing this
in the banned & bannered
five year since next door
that ninety-two year old
sang last (for) her supper
she watered the oxalis
we didn't hear her fall
never asked her name
fleeing the violence ov byker
took those plants
from that shared landing
now to have oxalis
spread our yard
us fresh outov sun
scream-a-ream
paper/s the airwaves
clogged in over-static
& muscled memory
coming on strong
when they print
yu died
i yell s/he lived
apes baring teeth
may mean war
we knuckle-walk
our ways to oblivion
my fiend my friend
generation on gen
knuckle-walling
end to end
no end troika
but arterial arias
riffs ov & riffs off
carrier-bag for face
a carrier-bag over face
to kill so tender
hold life prior
yu slew me previous
wish i had killed
more as teen
done time
got therapy
gone clean
out & redeem
i die/d for yu
w/ regularity
yu die/d for me
once upon up on
lyric lack the clack
upturn the urn
tongue ash
back to flesh
leash least un-
we lived i
live again
yu to breathe
my scent as
walking past
why i sniff
all-comers
my wish outta this
mission-creep
keep klept yu alive
the world not here
(to) make us laugh
counterfeiting
quadrilles
my oxalis-feral
live far from life
not the slow
death ov days
that choke-hold fade
barren behind bars
forgive
forge
forgo
i have run
the labyrinths ov mind
ov mine off-mine
know/n such rage
this relentless
keeping (ov) time
that brine ov
artery & eye
to cut a soldier
into pieces -
this we know
vlad putins surf
birthing bright
balaclava galleries
the knitting together
ov narratives
gun down another
& the nazis ov pegida
threaten our st stalingrad
w/ their first march these shores
but my heart-attack means
i'm not well enough
to counter-demon-strate
the dogs we are
dogs we were
so much punched meat
snuck bones marrow?
not i cock robin not i
this face yu see
is petalled nervosa
no-one applies rouge
to/o petty & pretty
yr petticoats in dew
petals seeping thru
& true bottle thrown
empty to infinite tides
some messaging!
runaway
runways
run
& a-ways-down the track
dont look back
dont look back
yr ribs on the outside
nib on the out & out
whose getting who hacked?
my oxalis-feral
aka wood sorrel
wood sour
sour trefoil
stickwort
fairy bells
hallelujah
cuckoos sorrow
gowke-meat
surelle
three-leaved grass
stubwort
seamsog
sour suds
sour sabs
sour grabs
wood shamrock
- such girthed prosody
across ages ov mx
at this panopticon
traffic(ked) lights
triage flowers
poppies for pain
pansies for love
gladioli for
lusts-fullness
a flower is
life sentence
but what alive!
ligatures & legislatures
dont walk talk baulk
dont bloody off
f(l)ight is body
emptying as breath
my youngest
that wo/man
felling me previous
falling me now
my tongue meeting yrs
tongue-greeting yrs
every time the first
each time the last
blast next breath
march on
w/ un/vital signs
until theres no more air
then stayed & swayed
d.n.r. & all that
'care' pathwaying
signing singing
& ov & off
su-gared flowers - translucent
in their shirt box nested down
from that high shelf for specials
top sheet baking paper removed
to be offered this box ov brights
cowslip primrose daisy
sea-pink lavender violet
popping wee dreams
to tongues tip
& detonating the dissolve
tire ov breastfeed bro/sis
& repeatedly being called chicken
shriek who will feast on my bones?
who will feast my bones?
babi yaga throws back spit
rollies flicked roll up roll up
news whacked behind knees
one headlie doled per day
(the) long term wounds
- anuses ov honeysuckle
- arterial fuchsia
- anemones amuse-bouche
blade reflects rage
at losing the light
& forever severs downtime
why someone walks past
snaps off living tree
snaps off gratuitously
that woody sapling
snaps that stripling
severs that living
whole lifetimes
lifelines over
& my rage such
i wd piss razor-wire
rather than forgive
what they do
negation
negev
negotiate
go to death willingly
the world furrows
the word furrows
theyre up late selling
the merch march maul
hauling the laugh
empty
empty
empty
at least film lighters ash
light us & light as ash
breathe in old flame
half a lung ov smoke daily
heavy as burn
tha'sweat razoring
heave & bereaved
sense census sentence
& mine - all in bloom
rip the piss
its no thorn off blood
oh bread & bone rose
bred ov horned blows
rembetika coursing veins
spring after spring (&) after
noise outov song
weapon outov noise
that bouquet
ov cudgellings
cudgel sings
dont relax the grip
suck on fire
starve oxygen
how (i) ate
& breathed fire
never walked
on or thru or w/ fire
meadows ov england
that betrayed us
moors ov scotland
that tried
hills o'wales
that never did
scrub & heath
& dune-wild w/
pyramidal orchid
bee orchid
bog orchid
marsh orchid
spotted orchid
tucking lavender
into scrunch ov muslin
winding orange ribbon
around its neck
placing this confection
under wee-sisters pillow
a whisper to be found
she wz orange-robed warrior
until generations felled
& then that ninety-two
they come & go
so many skeleton key changes
& so bellows lear in his meadow
crowned w/ rank fumiter
& furrow-weeds
w/ burdocks hemlock nettles
cuckoo-flowers darnel
& all the idle weeds
that grow in our sustaining corn
welcome nasturtium
impatient to grow
the growling briar
the howling potato
outing plastic compost bin
the night-scented stocks
fuelling heads & hard-wons
& down-low the fruit hangs
tattoo blown below left eye
family name high on neckline
skewer that much
march on carcass
caress careening
always fought this way?
lifetime after life?
thirst for yu to squat
over the knot - my heart
are yu my eyes?
yu (on) my lips?
yu are my heart
& my heat
call me stone
- hey stone ...
- what yu thinking stone?
- dont cry stone
- stone dont ...
- yr not alone stone
snowdrops for hope
clover for luck
whole armfuls
cuckoo-pint
remembrances
locked & goading
the pull-along c(l)ock
docket racketing
h/ours ov gag-reflex
sea-pinks the city
i am the sand
manufactured
yr mirror
yr silver too
a sliver ov beach
bleach leached
kith kin & rift
nesting boxes in
wwi razzle-dazzle
camouflage
so much mute ink
yesterdays crutch
wz on the left
todays on the right
last night to overhear
where is empire?
or wz it
where the beer?
neither deserving
their standing ovation
but legalise psilocybin do
write raves on the drumhead
ov thistle spreading
down inexorable
while that virus ov cctv
scatters rain
is scattered in turn
needs sweet razoring
the loving pyre
our elusive wreath
half i made
made love to
fucked w/
a galliard ov skins
all the madnesses
run run out
& at last willingly
to lay down my head
torn as smoke
on yr bro/sis chest
have closed eyes
at 80 mph
slit my arms
till they swarmed
rather than ran
sat at the edge
crowd below
screaming jump
i'm no entertainer
am still survived
have never known
my blood group
tree fades charcoal
all thats left -
dark stain ov root
rout booting
to die in bed
or die fighting
is that our choice?
kiss each & every
cawbie pluck at
mine barbwire eyes
wreathe self around mist
dare to outstare
sky cries readily
& at length spider lily
to burn this off
is more than i can
to hear yu turn the page
smudge the thru-line
the true-line
the dance stops
we must return home
its all just footwork
footwork & slaves
be brave to the end
bend abrasions
mend concussions
all trajectories sweet
ganging-up on language
gorge gorgeous goring
re-order these bones
rewrite neural pathways
& watch (to) the moon
daughter/son balling flight
flower is foxglove
a heart-shock bailing
faerie-shoes exultant in woods
& on the hills & moors
teach me smile
& at long last
spontaneous combust
bed down to ash
shed light
await the next
which isn’t
emptied
naked
cold
but bold in nurturing
ever-root
ever-rooting
ravage ravish rave
flowers / lovers
- children all
sean burn's vispo exhibition still alone in her voices about hearing voices ran in newcastle, england until the end of may and is now touring. his third full volume of poetry is that a bruise or a tattoo? is still available from www.shearsman.com/browse-poetry-books-by-author-sean-burn.