my name is abundance his name is love
charlie doesn’t advise does charlie
command? accrete necessary details
you can parse anything try

what’s a poor girl to do? parade us
as students we are your daughters
we lived as armies liberate villages
we all knew money wasn’t pure

my name is disturbance his name is love
you have an awful lot of guesses
Eisenhower’s front had faded
the judge couldn’t comprehend the

unfulfilled promises this world is
vaster first moments of morning
when everyone had folded into sleep
they were faded principalities fads

frayed as values we trusted in blossoms
in M16 barrels but the barrels
didn’t trust us myriad opportunities
for walk ins bri wigs out in

& out of the studio for some parents
it never mattered it was a thing
they never noted then it came time
to find meaning at the end of it

nothing is without consequence
the war is not stationary creeps
westward far too slowly they discover
the universe is too lonely things

that happen on cowboy sets deserts
desolate as fat predators with keys to
the best parts there is a time
for living the time keeps on flying

some pleaded stay with me until
the horror goes pleading begging
begging pleading the press wonder
how you’ll feel about him minus beard

the soul sure did pick a lulu but the
soul did a good job stabbed from
various angles on the lawn all
testimony is fabricated in blood

you tell us we needn’t be monsters
to do monstrous things sifting
for carpet bombers’ ruffled trails
political piggies die for prophecies

the trio a girl group costumed
variously in sky blue skirt &
darker cardigans shaved heads
flower power prints the time of the season

he looks the other way when it suits
his hard cock the song doesn't land
& the producer mooches off to the lido
a stolen car grunts venice

beach malibu topanga canyon death valley
in suburbs my cup runeth over
you look at my game phil asks
if the angels are beating on kids

we stay up all night calibrating everyone
we know calls ring out houselights
start new stories clues
misaligned still it doesn't quite tell

the freezing bonfire’s story
locusts be beatles his family
fumbles the trigger the plain dealer
front page kids lie in a my lai pile

sanction etiquette’s breach miss
manners’ guide to domestic tranquillity:
the authoritative manual for
every civilized household, however

harried is essential reading
every family falls apart face it
we love charm more than we love character
we bleed a butchery of book deals

the dead are so many so few
our century of paradise & horror
stay with me while it ends we've shared
too much it will be over too soon

mr & mrs america you are wrong
i am what you made me: mad dog
devil killer fiend leper my thoughts
light fires in your cities

Liam Ferney