She,

held her self still.

And I

recalling her face yet

that with my mouth

I forced the enquiry,

and argued the pressing

to her lips

Like those wants

of wishes sated

we had with marbled hurt

turned one back

against the other,

that was forever

like the past

both of us

going nowhere,

always

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Prolouge: there is no prolouge

Recollections:

Persephone shifted her weight

in time to the point

she was making.

She never stood erect-

she was always making a point.

Even with a potato peeler

there was an air

of menace-

she would mix it 

in with the mash.

Her threats had the promise

of unwanted mail;

of brown envelopes

the sort that fall...

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Enough said
and
drunk,
we sulked
and danced
and waited for
coats
taxis
kebabs.

holding posters of
dead rock stars
we climbed
the bare stairs.

Some wine
and the best
sounds on tape
and white bulbs
painted red or blue
and grass. Cool.
no chairs,
white walls,
carpeted.

my flat.

More drink
and looking out
of windows
Tom Waits playing
and that  'Moroccan'
from 'Eyg...

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Nietzsche declared
(when he asked for his supper)
'' I'm famished 
and that is a fact.''
His landlady retorted:
''Until the rent's sorted,
you'll have to make do
with an interpretation
of stew
or you-
can get yourself packed!''

words and photo

T Carroll

reworked

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Elliot likes to show, his learning,

in French, Latin and Greek

and with references hiding a-plenty,

there's work in them words

so to speak.

Words and image: Tommy Carroll

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I've just invented

a new cocktail:

But

1) You don't get to

know the ingredients

2) You don't get to

know the type

of container it

comes in.

3) The price is

not displayed;

4) You get the bill

as you leave:

I've named it

- The Brexit -

Words and image Tommy Carroll

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There are many ways

to kiss a cup

There are many

mouths from which

to sup

What's not hidden

but remains un-seen

what lays within

betwixt and between.

Words and foto Tommy Caroll

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 I can't see her so

Where?

  Somewhere? 

She was here once, 

I turned

but

I see her nowhere  

so where is the somewhere she is is?

Words and fotos Tommy Carroll

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I have no Idea

which side
the Brexiteers

are on
nor what the hell

it is all about-

I've a Masters Degree in
Political Economics 

and run an 

International Educational Establishment 
teaching the aforementioned degree

as well as having

35 years developing
European Legislative Analysis

for Businesses.

but

I'm clueless.

Words and images by Tommy Carroll

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Two rabbits in a field and one says

"ha you're wearing odd socks!"

the other rabbit didn't reply

as it was counting backwards from 100*

*readers feel free to substitute

"rabbits" with Economists,

polititians or media'

Words and images Tommy Carroll

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The change in your

politics starts

with the change in

your pockets

Words and image by Tommy Carroll

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With legs neatly crossed 
and a glass in her hand,
cigarette held to her mouth
her head tilted back listening: 
she exhaled- paused, 
then in reply said: 
''You forget about the fall back 
position of Christianity; 
'Limbo', 
according to the Catholic church 
all 'souls' that had no faith 
but were without sin- ended up there.'' 
she pressed her cigarette firmly out 
in the saucer pro...

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With legs neatly crossed 
and a glass in her hand,
cigarette held to her mouth
her head tilted back listening: 
she exhaled- paused, 
then in reply said: 
''You forget about the fall back 
position of Christianity; 
'Limbo', 
according to the Catholic church 
all 'souls' that had no faith 
but were without sin- ended up there.'' 
she pressed her cigarette firmly out 
in the saucer pro...

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This butchery of space

wears its frontage

as a pantomine Dame

wears its lipstick

with lashes to match

lashes of despair

and fallen concrete.

Words and image Tommy carroll

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Poetry has many inspections

each line remains re-touched;

we frown at fingered collections

of nouns and other stuff.

There are troublesome inflections,

and bleeding, wrung-out verbs-

the wandering expositions

of rhymes the metre serves.

There are stand alone conjunctions

in hope that it amazes

where

in solitude it functions

in contrived schema...

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Why if I may ask

do you cry? 

crave the center?

Just a  little longer and

I may have helped you,

held your hand a

little tighter.

Perhaps a crossword

has the answer

But still you cry.

Words and images  Tommy Carroll

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The more I see beyond
the reckoning words
and their sweet ache,
I realized you won
You always have.
I gave, you hid.

And this boyish want
has walked its way
away from you.
Despite my stay
and turning look
I was leaving by
weighted line
and flying hook.

And this turning to
your wished for face
has piled the wanting
piled the weight
like stones not
counted
but hurtful thrown
...

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I saw you waiting 
in the light 

stood there waiting
standing there

saw you in the 
window's light

standing facing
to the light

from the windows
tall and bright

from the shopping
arcade's light

from the arcade's
neon glare

I saw you shopping
standing there

I saw you standing
shopping there

saw you with your
shopping there

In the arcade 
windows glare

sto...

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Economics are arithmetical facts:

and history an interpretative smear.

Some historians blend

(with aims to offend)

those texts through conjecture

the results are a spectre

of what should be made solid and clear.

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I would whisper the wind 

to tangle your locks  

to tease your hair into a web  

that entraps my thoughts 

that entraps my  spoken wishes.  

Let your hair be a  tapestry 

of my words  

words traced as your  mouth 

is traced  

while I whisper 

those demands of you  

I will lure your smile 

with those fingered words  

and let the Monsoon winds  

wh...

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My woe is begotten
My memories are forgotten
My music is catholic
My holidays are not
My suit is cheap because the tailors working in sweatshops in the far-east get a pittance
My pizza l do not eat pizza
My asthma is genetic
My brilliance is wasted
My time is also wasted
My sexual preferences are not your concern
My religion is banished
My criminal record is the stuff of legend
My tend...

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Where butter melts

and honey drips

the parting comes

from parted lips

my fingers trace

the smear of dew

my knowing touch

from knowing you.

Words and image Tommy Carroll

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once 

was

not

enough

?

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is it vodka?

or tears

and gas bill

and tea?

or the bookies

and rent?

or grief 

and machines

that stop working?

or what was called rates?

I forgot what...

and the change

to a doorway

sleeper?

and I heard that song

from the pub

and everybody 

seemed to 

be walking

against me...

Why is the moon

my only friend?

Words and image Tomm...

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I must away 

and go now 

and clear the 

mess I've made 

I must bend down 

and reach for 

the words with 

once I played. 

Words and image  Tommy Carroll 

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''The probability

of causal inference

and its quantum

irregularities explained''

Is the title of my

next book-

the problem now is-

what to put in it.

Words and foto Tommy Carroll 

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Don't you know
it's just a rage
a tempest brewed
from grape not sage-
in all the world
there's not a stage
not tread by feet already.

And so I bow
and bid me out
you cared for nought
nor gave a shout
as all that is
has come about
with out you being ready.

re-edit 1981
words and foto T Carroll...

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It's not those

who drive the tank

It's not those

who make it

but it is they

who set its course

crushing history

as they fake it.

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She offers me a slice of peach ,
I look to the stars instead.
She lifts a burning ember
-as tribute to my face-
then counts the stars like seconds,
her voice is as a child’s,
counting slow and with surprise
then with self-admonishment 
she looks at me and tuts,
her finger numbers them- again.
She leans backwards, elbows
into the sand
and tells me she is bored 
with counting and h...

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She sat at the far end of her high ceilinged room

I sat on her prefered chair.

We stared at each other.

***

Her hundreds of books were piled upon a just cleaned black wooden floor.

What was that with the light?

ahh yes, clean windows-

she had gone and gotten herself a window cleaner.

***

' I'm  listening to ''Bring me the head of Philip K Dick'' again' she says...

'I ...

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Self:  ...haha hey up

         look see there

         and stop stop

        here we go i cant remenber how to spell remenber nor...

(Tommy sit down, there, ((pointing)) is no puddle next to the bin)

         I feel like my arm's gone to sleep

ha look at the floor as it rushes towards me...

me...

(Tommy put down the bottle)

Woo shake and dance and laugh and apologies for...

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Walking to the Bar

I choose carefully 

my steps;

more carefully

than my blatent

words.

Dandy Mo stares

at the 'bill of fayre'

- we count our change -

"Yes lads?" came

the bar-staff's

practiced pronouncement.

Words & foto Tommy Carroll 

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Tommyfazz and

Dandy Mo 

are both shouted at -

thier comments 

scream from the start

at the individuals

who are seeking 

to photograph

the mistakes

of thier intention. 

Words and foto Tommy Carroll

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Spend your wishes
to buy your needs
with wants you queue
to purchase dreams
deep inside the vault
they lay
a wealth of riches
declares the lie.

Words and foto Tommy Carroll

re-edit

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Persephone

shifted her weight

in time to the point

she was making.

She never stood erect-

she was always

making a point.

Even with a potato peeler

there was an air

of menace-

she would mix it 

in with the mash.

Her threats had

the promise

of unwanted mail

of brown envelopes

the sort that fall when

any-news-is-not-

good-news arrive.

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broken masonry

Not for me another love
like choking fear
It will not budge
I dare not blink
for it now seems
by choosing drink
I dwell in dreams.

I grind to bits
my words and teeth
when searching through
my history:
to lift above
what lay beneath
all that broken masonry.

Words and foto Tommy Carroll

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I got drunk in a 
Portland bar

On Clinton st.

thirty minutes after
I had exited my
girl-friend's car,

she text
to tell me
that she had 
finished with me
and that that was that.

I sat drinking
pouring tears
into my whiskey
a guy with an
English accent
joined me

we had a good time.
I bought all the drinks
as I remember.
I left alone drunk.

A couple of days later
I went ...

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He stood

and stared

at the socks

in his hand

She lay an arm 

accross her face

He made to sit

upon the edge

of the bed

She moved her legs

He turned to

look at her

She sighed at

thoughts of what

lay ahead

He squeezed her foot

She removed 

the heavy arm

that had hidden 

her gaze of him

He said

We will make it

through this day.

...

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We leant against each others

shoulders

and pointed at our

shoes

we told jokes where

the point was lost

and still we

laughed

we forgot the colour

of each other's

eyes

and remembered them

upon their closing.

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Not only time ticks

but the real tug

of sadness

ticks its loss

in un-measured

wants and pulls and cost.

Too many eyes gazed

at her from behind

the wooden shutters

of thier trust

and many weary eyes

searched hers in vain

for signs of invited lust.

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Not only time ticks 

but the real tug

of sadness

ticks its loss

in un-measured 

wants and pulls

and cost.

Words and image Tommy Carroll

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I left the party early
with my coat and hat still on
wearing a letrasetted syntax
and its addled lexicon
leaning against myself
while falling
I heard that gravity
was calling
and like the guests
who once
were standing
had now all left
or long since gone.

words and artwork Tommy Carroll

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Jan folded the letter 

running a finger along

its crease.

She looked up-

somebody was explaining

functionality

She stared at the new argument

written on the white board

then returned to the letter

the fold

another plane

pressing and creasing

vertices missing corners

peaking... She sighing.

His orientation with her

is now disengaged,

they were no...

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It's the words

with their wanton

un-mouthed ache

that bleat silently

against the ear

tangling those

not yet surveyed

and marked

desires,

their cerebral

obliterating duster

transforming an

ancient passion

into a smudge. 

words and image by Tommy Carroll

Read and leave comments (0)

Poetry has many inspections
each line like thought re-touched.
We frown at fingered collections
of nouns and other stuff.
There are troublesome inflections
and bleeding wrung-out verbs,
the wandering explications
of rhymes the metre serves.
There are stand alone conjunctions
in hope that it amazes
where
in solitude it functions
in contrived, schematic, phrases.

Words and image ...

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Mark ee Smith yeah

Smith yeah 

Mark ee Smith yeah

Smith yeah

Smith yeah

Smith yeah

Mark ee Smith yeah

Mark ee Smith yeah

...and the window out of my kitchen

lets a bright blue sky in...

Mark ee Smith yeah

Mark ee Smith yeah

Mark ee Smith yeah...

words and image Tommy Carroll

(already too long but not forgotten)

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snip snip
           gardening magazine
bits and pieces
print large
               text small
flowers here
blue shears crop wintry bargain buys
compost your neighbors  cabbages
kneel and weeping dig

best prices paid for sheds
my hands ache with gay arrays
                                    suduko and wire eats the bugs of heavy scent
Heaven scent and saplings bent
letters from read...

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The hour is slim!

the time to entwine

with her and

with advantage

inhale the heavy

offering from between

the jaws of her

open thighs.

Persephone's tasty flesh

renders her cleft

of wet truth-

she can slake this thirst-

can assuage my ache when

enthralled against

the serpent earth

with legs knotted

we lay tangled in

ancient ruin.

Tommy Carro...

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My rhyming couplet

-at the metre's expence-

is knowing the difference

if this makes sence-

is when to use when

from

when to use whence.

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