Dan Tindall

You must deliver us victories 

Meaningful blood sacrifice 

The New Book speaks of speed and action 

Technology shouts out 

Death and glory! 

Burnt alive by the triumph 

Of the will of man over nature 

Dressed in the garb of soldier…

These elderly invaders 

Have long since gone 

Native on the poor rocky 

Soil and ancient drainage 

Where Bold Kevin 

His chainsaw 

And his musical ear defenders 

Cut logs for fuel from 

The fallen corpses left by 

Unexpected storms 

Business has…

I am curiously numb 

To the fact that you are gone 

Devil, patriot 

Criminal, rebel 

You outlived the clichés 

(Just about) 

Given the time and place 

You were always going to exist 

An iron response to a clumsy 

Fist wrapped…

He put his head on the table 

And announced 

That it would stay there 

Until someone spilled 

The truth about 

The silence that was stolen 

When he was 14 years old 

Standing on a box to 

Reach his workbench 

In…

Down in the docks 

They’re building a tower 

Cranes lowering precast jigsaw pieces 

Into the filled-in futureshock 

Of a foul berth where 

You slavishly recalled the gig that 

Never was beneath the 

Bridges where Flat Tyre Jack and 

His squad…

I'm nervous because the train's on time 

Generally it's slightly late 

And that early morning cosmic rush 

Gets my day going rightly 

Kickstart payoff for some fully clothed 

Exercise of my bothersome heart 

And argumentative circulation 

(Don't even get me…

[across the sky passes the shadow 

daughters’ alter ego 

The sun 

Long forgotten 

Still yearns to be a 

Star] 

I’m impressed by these fine tales 

Of woe 

And so forth 

Delightful modulation 

And characterisation 

(is that the right word?) 

But…

Two witnesses to revelation 

Selling a particular god 

Or some portion thereof 

Stood atop a bleak and 

Charmless bridge 

Sighing as the passers by 

Look away 

Forward 

To the mis-matched mashup 

Of new buildings 

High-rise adventure 

Overlooking a purpose built…