Hi Frank, that's very pleasant open style you've got going. I don't know
whether to object that the piece doesn't really go anywhere. Or do I mean
that it just reads like the first instalment of something much longer?
Hmmn... certainly I could read more.

Do people publish long poems anymore? Do people write them? (as you may
recall 15 syllables is a big enough challenge for me!)

Anyway, here's two nit picks for the price of one. I *really* don't like the
title. Not at all at all. And why does he need towels for his cigarettes...
to dry them?

asks for towels in the morning
asks for cigarettes
and for the rams' blood

This latter mucho confusing for dopey here as I spent many a happy hour in a
crappy Greek restaurant in Bristol drinking crappy Greek wine called Bull's
Blood.

No need to smash the plates - just crash your liver instead.

Yerch! john e c





----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Faust" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "John Carley" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2003 9:32 AM
Subject: sub - have ewe any flocking ram's blood


have ewe any flocking ram's blood

what a great big dopey looking
nong of a man
is this young bloke

mouth hung open
his eyes look like they're seeing
something amazing
or maybe just unfocussed
from the effort of getting out of bed

fit as a bull though
exercises with his top off in the courtyard sun
all six-pack and biceps

doesn't say much
asks for towels in the morning
for his cigarettes
and for the rams' blood

says lambrusco will do it

what's lambrusco

do what

he says it brings the aliens
mutters something about having them
inside him
gestures as though he's pulling them out
either them or it could be
his heart

and what about that rams' blood
do we have any

I tell him that
though people might flock to get here
we don't admit sheep
onto the ward
because we like to treat each patient
as an individual

thinks about it for a minute
then laughs
he gets the joke
the absurdity of it
he's quite handsome
when he laughs

then his face gets dopey again
and he wanders off
to find some clean pyjamas to wear
while he washes his clothes
in the laundry

~