Urban Gospel

looking through a vacancy

where a steel capped boot

punched a hole in the old

asbestos fence and

seeing stray fibres

breathed in like faith

and reflected invisibly

in shades of spring green

vaguely imagined

from the smudged glass

of a discarded bottle

left sinking in untended

strands of tall fescue

somehow clawing at hope

and fueling desires to

the hearts and

the engines of

suburban mundane

arms made of art

well camouflaged

against the wasted walls

of a once was warehouse

blurring past

but in slow motion

against the popping tension

backdrop of impending

thunder and lovers

forgetting all

in a beaten Torana's

back seat backed onto

cracked pavement

intervening like

a saviour's wisdom

spilling a seed

from a row of options

in a picketed garden bed

a consummation overseen

by the terracotta Jesus

and turning to the tolling

of train crossing bells

where a withered old man

has wandered and stands

astride tracks

in a crucifix stance.

Reviews

[Jeremy Baker]

Damn this is good! Wow - such desolate and despairing descriptions, and amazing imagery. Quite a surreal journey to follow in places, which of course just adds to the wonder of it all. Structurally this is quite different to your other writing, but you craft it so carefully, with such artistry and skill, that the reader is often unaware of how you have positioned them by the ending. The picture of the 'withered old man' is simply haunting. Unbelievable work, my friend!

[blakjassy]

I read this out to my teenaged daughter and she had some very interesting comments about it ... first she said it reminded her of old things, then she said it reminded her of relationships going wrong and finally she said, and I quote, "Oh this is about like teenagers, in the movies, when they go off in their crappy old car to the spot that has a cliff that overlooks the town, like every town has one of those spots, so that they can have sex in the back seat for the first time... wow, thats so cool!!"

Gotta love teenagers!!