Boozing Buddies
 
 
Scabby Dave
 
Scrofulous,
Adhering to his beard
The froth.
A skeletal rock monster
On his back,
He looks like that.
 
 
Lance
 
Telling me he is going to open a boutique in London
in his rags.
A fishing rod for a walking stick,
Then when that got nicked;
A branch.
 
 
Ged
 
Drinks and drinks
And thinks he’s Clint –
(the Stetson over his face),
In front of the open fire,
Mumbling to himself.
 
Sometimes I see him –
Striding over the plain
(over the waste ground)
On his way home,
The man with no name.
 
Recently though a change –
Sporting cane (silver-topped),
A watch-chain hanging,
His new black jacket,
Hey! I've got it! Doc Holliday.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
 

Acid
 
 
Karl
 
Early one morning (on the guitar
took an acid tab aged twenty
twenty five years later
threw himself under a car) just
As the sun was rising…
 
 
Joe
 
He could play
A nice action
I would say.
Slung high
On his chest
Fingering the frets.
 
Tipped for the top
And he did it –
Topped himself.
In that room
His big break,
A broken neck.


* James Morris: "I work as an English teacher in Thailand. I looked round the Teacher's Room today and thought... Rejects from the West, a failure Fest."