It was obviously a slip of the tongue
but every word drove through my ears
like a 4×4 into a soft brain.

© Carl Burkitt 2022

He’s eating a peach
on a picnic bench
listening to Paul Simon.
His radio has an aerial
as long as the past.
The soles of his shoes are coal,
his teeth are diamonds.

© Carl Burkitt 2022

The tote bag
hangs off the strawberry soft skin
in the middle of your arm.
The skirt around your waist
floats towards the door
as sunflower flip flops say
Text me if you need anything.

© Carl Burkitt 2022

Janine Butcher is hugging Danny Dyer
and the caption underneath says
Kat and Sharon reel from the night’s events
and struggle to see eye to eye
and my body remembers Phil Mitchell
crying on his sofa while I ate
mashed potatoes on mine not understanding
why he let things get to this point
and I think about his brother leaving
and eating exotic animals
and interviewing deadly men
and how my brain could do with a good
clear out with some soap.

© Carl Burkitt 2022

but you have picked up a fallen leaf
and you are trying to stick it
back on the tree. I’m learning
to say nothing.

© Carl Burkitt 2022

He doesn’t seem to mind
yelling it on the high street
drinking from a Costa Coffee cup.
There’s a child holding the hand
of a man wearing a Captain America T-shirt
walking towards a bloke selling candy floss.
YOUR BODY IS GOING TO DIE.
YOUR BODY IS GOING TO DIE.
YOUR BODY IS GOING TO DIE.
The man wearing a Captain America T-shirt
buys one bag of blue and one bag of pink.
YOUR BODY IS GOING TO DIE.
He takes another sip
from his Costa Coffee cup and chokes.

© Carl Burkitt 2022

They’re all singing it:
the shelf-stacker putting eggs on top of eggs,
the man who hates avocados,
the bloke unsure which ketchup to buy,
the woman who likes your jumper,
the woman juggling broccoli,
the checkout guy with a smile
in the shape of a bread knife.
None of us ever sat in your car.
We never felt the seatbelts tighten,
the leather never stuck to our legs.
We heard all about it though,
it was easier to talk about.

© Carl Burkitt 2022

She’s on the radio
and they’re all laughing,
their skin as thick as batter.

© Carl Burkitt 2022

Grandma is holding
an inflatable cock
while her girls go
to the toilet.
It is bigger than her
and her bags
and the entire train station
she’d like it
to float her
away
from.

© Carl Burkitt 2022

Use walking poles as prevention not a cure. If a sheep
can poo on it, you can climb it. Being inside a cloud
does not make you rain. Use Vaseline as prevention
not a cure. If a slug can live on it, you can climb it.
Talk shite up a mountain, you don’t know what it’s
achieving.

© Carl Burkitt 2022