View
the way it looks from over hereis infinitely grander than your sodding plodding point of viewalbeit my loftyperch as perch can (well-intentioned) perspectiveis framed bymy myopic references and your failing élanso as I survey your mildewed meta-mise en scèneit does behoovemy nobly ego-driven self-esteemed worldview to look closer
Scent
Can you pick the aromatic flavourof the grand feast set for your repast?Does the fragrance linger, does it lastlong enough olfactorily to savour?
Does your lover's scent transport you timewiseto Edens not yet bereft of passion?Does conjured adorning then in fashionlead you, saddened, to yearn for that lost spice?
Concupiscent conjuring may seemas vivid and invoking as the wind.Yet essence savoured, recalled, won't transcend,nor will amour's incense change life's theme.
Reach
manipulateflex push stroketensionis nomoremassaged out contact is confirmed we nestle close closer still at peace
Suck
When you make ameal of body politicyou've got to crackthe whole thing open
season to tastewith bestrewn flakesof policy offaland prejudged bakes
taste and seethat government isgood and hot for the lot
suck it up mateyou've got no ideahow hard it is to fill a menu
serve offshore detention?just add watersalt to tasteand erase border
grind those grubby unionspeel any sign ofparty donations and extractionsfrom sorbeted cosseted carapaces
stop the gloatsstraighten up andget flyers Right
strain taxed gnats welland whatever you doadd the promised peaextract concord's scoured shell.
serve pre-heatedpost May's entreeof budget salad
Listen
I sit with you and listen with my head on my hand and my heart in its rightful place, perched between concern and compassion-fatigued alertness. I hear your frustration. I taste your anger and gingerly run metaphysical fingers across the edges of your distress, indelibly sharpened by rejection, inexorably conjured by need. You need to talk. I need to listen.
Barry Gittins is a communication and research consultant for The Salvation Army.