GCTA shouldn’t spell your name
but I’m pretty sure you’ve hacked my DNA
so that a well-meaning scientist
seeking to cure my horrendous malady
with cutting edge gene therapy
would scratch their head
in finding your name writ so deep

A restrained ahem
echoes into the night
without even the edge of an eyebrow raised

the tentative gesture
fails to interrupt business
as usual
no mass exposed
to the fat con and filial misdirection

while on the stage
the hamfisted prestidigitator
sweats so profusely
that the greasepaint nearly shifts

We grew in this yard
in between the broken glass and dog ****
vine inches
minutes by hours by days
roots crept in an inconsistent soil
and growing despite

To arrive now with weekend garden centre eyes
you may see weakness in some leaves
that belies the truth of a fragile fruit
long nurtured from blood
and uncompromising viticulture

And if you try to claim the bouquet
or the legs on that glass
or the complexity of hard fought tannins
and subtle warmth
and lasting aftertaste

Then you will see us spit

Today I thought “*******.”
You’re rude to those I love
through ignorance,
yours of course, as mine is finer tuned
though I abhor you
for your corporate judgment
in kind I’m classifying you
to post in **** encrusted pigeonholes
so future proles
will know to write you off
and your specious waffle
will forever be followed
by polite cough,
Yours Faithfully

The garden cats aren’t mine
with my pss-pss-pss
and shuffle finger
I try to entice them
but mainly, warily
they ignore in the truest
feline tradition
to leave me and my allergies
wishing

The brief needle in my arm
and onwards
the dog with the slobbered tennis ball
the boys braving bare feet in the stream
and onwards
soft wind still with a sharp edge
the brief needle in my arm
the tumble song of the ice cream van
and onwards