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Dondestan
1991
Robert Wyatt
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| COSTA |
Alfreda Benge / Robert Wyatt |
Orange,
fierce orange of the egg shaped fireball
plopping into the ocean
as the earth tips backwards towards night.
Orange,
scratched orange of the gas bottles
delivered, for lack of pipeline
dragged to the door by the man in a wig
Orange,
soft orange of two full moons
one high, one low in a puddle mirror
floating in a pothole of the unmade road
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Illustration : Jean-Michel Marchetti |
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| THE SIGHT OF THE WIND |
Alfreda Benge / Robert Wyatt |
We could hear it
before the shutters were open,
the wind on the beach.
Then we found
miniature sand dunes
on the concrete of the balcony
and a dead leaf
zig zagging,
scratching an urgent message
in s anskrit
before hitching a ride
on a frisky gust,
a plastic bag
caught by a rail
rearing to go,
in such a flap
we set it free
to join a page of last week's news
racing high
above the undulating beach,
and the invisible flying sand
casting a fast moving shadow
stroking the beach clean.
Yesterday's footprints vanished,
replaced by smooth rippling
wave formations,
a copy of the sea.
No one walking
not even the dogs.
A day
for the rubbish to dance.
CATHOLIC ARCHITECTURE
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Alfreda Benge / Robert Wyatt |
A white house with a folly
a tower attached.
On the side
a hand painted saint
(lovingly painted)
peeps over a high wall
which surrounds the white house.
His loving gaze
is interrupted
by a line of broken glass
cemented
on top of the high wall.
The saint
lovingly dares
the outsider,
or the stray cat,
to intrude
and recieve his loving blessing
in lovingly lacerated
hands.
| WORSHIP |
Alfreda Benge / Robert Wyatt |
Two nuns
on the sea shore
stand
apart from one another
black wood posts
mesmerised
by the sea god
One nun
with human failings
and weary legs
sinks to the sand
and sits
like a child
A golden stripe appears
on the western horizon
a signal from the sea god
that he understands
tiredness
One staunch sister
stays standing
and the sun
sets
SHRINKRAP |
Alfreda Benge / Robert Wyatt |
It takes a weekly packet
to keep the shrink in pocket
It costs a pretty penny
just to stay afloat
It takes a lot of lolly
trying to be jolly
when the inerest keeps mounting
in the bank and in my person
It takes a bit of doing
just feeling up to scratch
It's work work work
from dawn to dusk
My id is raw
my ego breaking
from months of toil
to seperate my real self
from its husk
Everybody loves me
everyone but me
It's costing cash to melt the ice
I've sweated blood to hear I'm nice
Picture the Scene.
"Hello, how are you?"
"Well I'm a green and yellow
pinky blue."
Dead Alternative.
"Oh then, please step right in
to our nursery.
Just pick a group
that you can relate to,
now the grownups have gone."
After the party is
over, my friend,
there will be nothing you can
put your finger on.
Just a parasol.
Simplify, reduce, over-simplify
What we call
freedom in the north
means our freedom to
use you
and if you don't co-operate
we'll cut off your supply lines
but you'll be free
to re-connect
if you beg our forgiveness
you say I
over simplify
well yes, so did
Albert Einstein
Simplify, reduce, over-simplify
There simply
is no middle ground
pentagon liber alles
There never
was a middle ground
that's the point I was making
There's no such
place as middle ground
(that's the point we were making)
Left or Right of the equator.
Simplify, reduce, over-simplify
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Illustration : Jean-Michel Marchetti |
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LISP SERVICE |
Robert Wyatt/ Hugh Hopper |
Trouble isn't my middle name,
Left in peace would make my day.
You started the fire not me,
camouflaged in mystery.
Plundering, murdering,
raiding coast to coast,
good old days of gore,
and now you tell me
I should learn to deal with you all
bow to you and praise the Lords for
everything, everything
you won for us.
After all that was before,
there weren't no amnesty
international,
nobody to check you.
Don't give me that
'polis'
that 'rule of law'.
N.I.O. (NEW INFORMATION ORDER) |
Robert Wyatt |
Privatise
next
the air force
then
the police force
Royal Family
let them be
private at least.
Set them free.
Let them go home.
Save a bomb on union flags.
Privatise
the sea.
Privatise
the wind.
Don't just tinker
with unseeded cloud, you got to
sell
weather itself.
Set it free.
Don't wastegood air,
breathing isn't paying it's way.
Palestine's a country
or at least
used to be.
Felahin, refugee
(Kurdistan similarly)
need something to
build on
rather like
the rest of us.
Palestine's a country
or at least
used to be.
Felahin, refugee
(deportees similarly)
need something to build on
rather like the rest of us
got.
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