The Unknown Soldier charges glasses:
word has gone around
our enthusiast Prime Minister
has been discovered drowned.
He was washed up next a pillbox
and received a salute:
the President's instructions
were pinned to his bathing suit.The once-runt receives favours
for achievements not his own
They sit him down with crayons
and tell him how he's grown.
Adults seem to overlook him
-no matter what knee-rub he tries-
He stops his watch as evidence
of what time he arrived.Your last remaining passport
is in the teeth of a Basset Hound;
Due to its good breeding
you cannot take it to the pound.
Its owner is a simper
drawn on a rocking horse
He will only blow his horn
if you agree to be main course.A mess of unfed kittens
are lined up in a row
and drowned in odds and evens
for having nowhere else to go.
All except those spat out
by the pedigree machine
that guarantees our borders
and full saucers of cream.The hard recruiting Sergeant
settles an old bet – as to
the Scout Master's birthday
and what present he should get.
The lieutenant pastes the Monarch
to a naked man and has it framed,
The Sergeant has the remains of Baden-Powell
welded to a weather vane.The imitation Sister Florence
betrays her hide-out game
by giving the wrong needle
and misspelling her name.
Her lantern flickers weakly
as she soothes you to your rest
the words to Auld Lang Syne
are tucked into her breast.The newlywed returned to sender
sinks and cannot seem
to recover any altitude
in his mistress' esteem.
She trims his big toenail
and thinks him grown rotund
while he butters both sides of toast
and re-treads trodden ground.The one-armed train conductor
is a month ahead in dues
His stamp upon the ticket
is congealing into a bruise.
He lives with the parking inspector
beneath a garbage lid
and presents a stick of perfect chalk
as an anniversary gift.The pretty monkey dissident
is depicted as a lush
Downing soused bananas
peeled back from the brunt at lunch
He is an old-style disturbance
rolling marbles under hooves
and brandishing a permit
to operate as sooth.The pedestrians are silent
by the written request
of a twice-promoted librarian
and an uninvited guest.
One indicates one's purchase
in cash register charades
“From Intimates to Politics”
by the Marquis de Sade.The reluctant school Head Mistress
has her cigar and her cane,
A student and past Master
are locked on Lover's Lane.
A prefect is convicted
of insufficient beef
and marking his page in Leviticus
with a marijuana leaf.The recovered anorexic
is lauded for the gain,
The recovered alcoholic
throws himself under a train.
The disorder inventory
loses a commissionaire
and the invalid canary
that shat crutches in his hair.
- 115: SPACE
with A Sometimes
114: NO THEME 13
with J Toledo & C Tse
113: INVISIBLE WALLS
with A Walker & D Disney
112: TREAT
with T Dearborn
111: BABY
with S Deo & L Ferney
110: POP!
with Z Frost & B Jessen
109: NO THEME 12
with C Maling & N Rhook
108: DEDICATION
with L Patterson & L Garcia-Dolnik
107: LIMINAL
with B Li
106: OPEN
with C Lowe & J Langdon
105: NO THEME 11
with E Grills & E Stewart
104: KIN
with E Shiosaki
103: AMBLE
with E Gomez and S Gory
102: GAME
with R Green and J Maxwell
101: NO THEME 10
with J Kinsella and J Leanne
100: BROWNFACE
with W S Dunn
99: SINGAPORE
with J Ip and A Pang
97 & 98: PROPAGANDA
with M Breeze and S Groth
96: NO THEME IX
with M Gill and J Thayil
95: EARTH
with M Takolander
94: BAYT
with Z Hashem Beck
93: PEACH
with L Van, G Mouratidis, L Toong
92: NO THEME VIII
with C Gaskin
91: MONSTER
with N Curnow
90: AFRICAN DIASPORA
with S Umar
89: DOMESTIC
with N Harkin
88: TRANSQUEER
with S Barnes and Q Eades
87: DIFFICULT
with O Schwartz & H Isemonger
86: NO THEME VII
with L Gorton
85: PHILIPPINES
with Mookie L and S Lua
84: SUBURBIA
with L Brown and N O'Reilly
83: MATHEMATICS
with F Hile
82: LAND
with J Stuart and J Gibian
81: NEW CARIBBEAN
with V Lucien
80: NO THEME VI
with J Beveridge
57.1: EKPHRASTIC
with C Atherton and P Hetherington
57: CONFESSION
with K Glastonbury
56: EXPLODE
with D Disney
55.1: DALIT / INDIGENOUS
with M Chakraborty and K MacCarter
55: FUTURE MACHINES
with Bella Li
54: NO THEME V
with F Wright and O Sakr
53.0: THE END
with P Brown
52.0: TOIL
with C Jenkins
51.1: UMAMI
with L Davies and Lifted Brow
51.0: TRANSTASMAN
with B Cassidy
50.0: NO THEME IV
with J Tranter
49.1: A BRITISH / IRISH
with M Hall and S Seita
49.0: OBSOLETE
with T Ryan
48.1: CANADA
with K MacCarter and S Rhodes
48.0: CONSTRAINT
with C Wakeling
47.0: COLLABORATION
with L Armand and H Lambert
46.1: MELBOURNE
with M Farrell
46.0: NO THEME III
with F Plunkett
45.0: SILENCE
with J Owen
44.0: GONDWANALAND
with D Motion
43.1: PUMPKIN
with K MacCarter
43.0: MASQUE
with A Vickery
42.0: NO THEME II
with G Ryan
41.1: RATBAGGERY
with D Hose
41.0: TRANSPACIFIC
with J Rowe and M Nardone
40.1: INDONESIA
with K MacCarter
40.0: INTERLOCUTOR
with L Hart
39.1: GIBBERBIRD
with S Gory
39.0: JACKPOT!
with S Wagan Watson
38.0: SYDNEY
with A Lorange
37.1: NEBRASKA
with S Whalen
37.0: NO THEME!
with A Wearne
36.0: ELECTRONICA
with J Jones