be HAPPINESS: now
i, if you'll let me, have forgotten your name
helen, mark, steve, your names are the carnivalesque
prelude to forgiveness,
a forum made of tin foil, modroc & lace for indifference
my attempt to construct a convincing reality out of people
i never really believed in
memory is a patched-up and slumping mattress
a sticky dress you borrowed out of politeness
a digression – when friends are people you wouldn't recognise on tv
because, i never asked you to be my friend
& no one can disappear completely
terror isn't something you can just pop in the sea
i want to ask my spring greens the story of their lives
riot, now, reproduce, now
rent a mountain with your last dime
& dance to the natural rhythms that i show you while i take my photo
in which soil did your populace grow, little flower?
whose little mind has my mind conquered?
be HAPPINESS: now
be not estranged
cut up the strangler with your notice
and slice abuse from the minds of bereaved – make a scarf
for the eyes of the saturated & laugh off infidelity
section the solicitors & squat in the bureau of national statistics
file sighs &
fold your hands into mine
we'll change the meaning of unclean
for my hostility read nostalgia, for bouts of silence read I LOVE YOU
if i had an identity, it would be in spasms
with your large voice & your benevolence
please teach me mindfulness like a bad science.
'be HAPPINESS: now' © Samantha Walton.
i, if you'll let me, have forgotten your name
helen, mark, steve, your names are the carnivalesque
prelude to forgiveness,
a forum made of tin foil, modroc & lace for indifference
my attempt to construct a convincing reality out of people
i never really believed in
memory is a patched-up and slumping mattress
a sticky dress you borrowed out of politeness
a digression – when friends are people you wouldn't recognise on tv
because, i never asked you to be my friend
& no one can disappear completely
terror isn't something you can just pop in the sea
i want to ask my spring greens the story of their lives
riot, now, reproduce, now
rent a mountain with your last dime
& dance to the natural rhythms that i show you while i take my photo
in which soil did your populace grow, little flower?
whose little mind has my mind conquered?
be HAPPINESS: now
be not estranged
cut up the strangler with your notice
and slice abuse from the minds of bereaved – make a scarf
for the eyes of the saturated & laugh off infidelity
section the solicitors & squat in the bureau of national statistics
file sighs &
fold your hands into mine
we'll change the meaning of unclean
for my hostility read nostalgia, for bouts of silence read I LOVE YOU
if i had an identity, it would be in spasms
with your large voice & your benevolence
please teach me mindfulness like a bad science.
'be HAPPINESS: now' © Samantha Walton.
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Samantha Walton reads her work.
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