Tony Jolley Poems

Does the 'Big Bang' of living
Leave a sort of Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation behind it –
The faintest of faint echoes
Reverberating below the waterline
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‘Lazy Ginger’ for two very laid back chefs;

Malt vinegar because carpe frite is the better for it
(even if it is [not exactly] ‘fish ‘n’ chips’ as we know it):
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[Reader: if you have not done so, please read 'X-Station-Box Generation' first. Thanks.]

Every slug of lead bulldozing its girth through soft tissue,
Every pressure-pad mine erupting to separate sole from soul,
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Strange perfection.
Unexpected.
Tenderly playing in the corner of your mouth.
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Object of your gruesome experimentation,
You stuck their megavolt electrodes
Of hearsay, revisionism, hatefulness and received un-wisdom
To my temples past, present and future
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If someday scientists could reconstruct us from scratch –
Not just the skin and bones
But the personality to match:
Mind, emotions, values, judgement, belief, sensitivity:
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Would have sat there by the chair and cringed for you if you’d really wanted.
[Thank god you didn’t ask! ]
Better yet would have taken your place if I could…
But I’m short on wisdom as you know.
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Sometimes there’s nothing will placate them,
Can stop them bawling and wailing
Like inconsolable, Eastern, coffin-cortège mourners,
Being torn away from what they’re wanting.
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Saw Fear today.

It was pounding its grey-brown hide, very literally hell-for-leather
Across the fresh-ploughed slabs and furrows
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