this is
my first interview
since my death(predictable suspense)
i swallowed
a cotton budi had only just
recovered
from the teardrop curseby then
it had become popular
to pulp to reformeveryone’s dad
shredded
their rhetorical fillerthat seemed to work
for them
the dadsevery one of them
had sampled
a few mls of
ostensibly beneficial
dribblecopper bracelets
were big too
&
old brass bowlfuls
of plant-based plants– – –
some perspective
in the kitchen –rinsing
greasy glass lids
foam bubbleslittle transparent
purplish white globes
slide ping popcartoon
georges perec
momentslike
question your teaspoons
(questionner tes petites cuillèrs)drumming
steel cutlery
to set the tablei asked
the pot plant
what to dobegin straightaway
cook up
easy parasite stir frythat’s what
the dads
called itunwelcome comments
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
out in the street
on the odd numbers side
a house number
is missingheading
north to south
facing eastinto sunrises
pinkish or reddish
on a good morningthis is 147
the hermit’s at 149
151 is missing
no house no number
then
the rental terrace 153day breaks
over the flitting zonewind drops
its
sootsoaked aerosolsswallows chit chit
to the clouds –
‘you’re across everything’dreamliner
slices cirrus vapourmorning’s daze
crashed
by an airwave nail gunpump pat
pump pat
pump patloud richochet
swooshes off the fence– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
before
i diedi had
to get awaycrosshatched
nerves twitchedi deserved
a different body
smooth & calm
&
maybe lanky– – –
i was
always polite
&
friendlyat the clinic
at the deli
at the libraryat the fish shop
‘kalispera
tikanis?’my few greek expressions
had come from
a worldly lesbian
who’d been to samosshe’d learned them
from her ouzo lover
(‘s’agapo poli’)
or
was it retsina?‘efcharistó
télos pánton’i should have
gone
to samosthanks
anyway– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
this interview
has digressedi’m not sure
what you want
to knowis it
about the poetry?all
accidentalfrom this cardboard coffin
some final words –Note: Pulp was an English art pop band in the mid 1990s. In late 2022, the poet Michael Farrell posted their news on facebook using the headline
‘Pulp to Reform’.
Michael posted “‘Pulp to Reform’ sounds like a pam brown poem title”.
So, I wrote a poem that really had nothing to do with the band but later, as poetry often does, its content took on a synchronistic cast
of mortality. Pulp were due to reform in 2023, but, sadly, in early March the bass player, Steve Mackey, died.
- 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