Dotches, Bobby Parker

This Little Light of Mine, Tim Timmerman
(oil on wooden panel / glass / reclaimed wood / ceramic; 28″x20″x2″)

 

Dotches

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There is a man in a room full of flowers
He can’t breathe
There are so many flowers
He screams for someone to take the flowers away
The thin lady next-door listens to him scream
Every time he screams she slaps herself in the face
The street-lights are red and they flicker

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She touched my arm
Caressed my arm
‘You remember me don’t you?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘You are Kim.’
‘Zoe.’ She said. ‘My name is Zoe.’
‘You are Zoe? I thought you were Kim.’
‘No. I am Zoe.’
‘Why did I think you were called Kim?’
‘My name is Zoe.’
‘I thought your name was Kim.’
‘No, Zoe. My name is Zoe.’
‘Who told me you were called Zoe?’
‘My name is Zoe.’
‘I mean, who told me you were Kim.’
‘I don’t know. I don’t know.’
She stopped caressing my arm
She smelled like secrets

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The junkie leaned into the pram
To put a coin into our baby girl’s little hand
Spent a few seconds prising
Her little fingers open
‘Always cross a newborn baby’s palm with silver.’
The Junkie slurred
Smiling under the sun
Her torn face smiling under the sun
The four of us thinking SILVER

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Don’t touch that
I told you it’s dangerous
It’s dangerous to touch that
It’s dangerous
Like putting your hand in a murderer’s mouth
Or poking your nipple into a plug socket
Or running around the pool with a hard on
Don’t fucking touch it

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‘Some people think they
Can see Jesus in a slice of toast
Instead of other places
Lots of other places
Why does bread get all the Jesus?’
He threw a stone into the lake
As she undid her laces
And tied them up again tighter than before

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Look over there!
Where?
Over there!
Oh yeah, that’s pretty cool

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‘I fell over in the snow.’ She said
He lifted the cup to his lips and pretended to drink
‘I fell over in the snow.’ She repeated
‘Mmm.’ He said
Getting up
To close the curtains

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She kisses your forehead
In the middle of the night
You think it is a spider
But it is her lips
Her cold lips
Falling
Onto your forehead like a snowflake

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‘We were floating upside down,’
-I sat up and fluffed my pillows-
‘Then the witch came.’
‘Don’t tell me these things.’
I reached out and pinched
Her arm in the dark and she squealed
Like a balloon
Out of the open window

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She asked me to fetch the hammer
From the cellar
I ran down the stairs and grabbed the hammer
And ran back up the stairs
Tripping and hitting my chin on the last step
Blood dripped from my chin onto the last step
I ran out and slammed the cellar door shut behind me
Because I knew something would bend down
Out of the gloom of the cellar to lap up the blood
And
Drunk on my wine
Sing
A cobwebby song just for me

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He challenged me to a See Who Can
Stay Up The Latest
Competition
The Haunting was on the telly
And when it finished
At two in the morning
I looked at my sleeping dad
Too scared to wake him up
I sat watching the credits roll
Out of floor and up through the ceiling
For the rest of my life

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The tablets took about
An hour to kick in
So I sat down on the floor and wrapped a beer bottle
With masking tape
Until the masking tape ran out
Then I thought about my grandparents in Heaven

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She said I was a good kisser
But I had never kissed anyone before
How could I be a good kisser?
‘Maybe you’re just naturally a good kisser.’
My friend said
‘Oh, OK. That makes sense.’ I said
Flicking my cigarette over my shoulder
Into a stupid bush

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Did you see that film last night
The one with the girl and the monster
It was a good one
There was a girl
And a monster
The monster chased the girl
For about an hour and a half
Then she killed him

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There was a girl
I forgot her name
It rained for a whole week
My boss said he liked chicken skin
He said if he could
He would lie in bed
All day eating chicken skin

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Who keeps knocking our door?
It drives me mad wondering
Who is knocking our door
But I won’t open the door
Or peep through the spy hole
That would be too easy
I’m going to think of all the people who could be
Knocking our door
Until I fall asleep

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Laughter came
From the bathroom mirror
That high mad laughter
You read about in books on asylums
So you covered every mirror
With a black sheet
With your eyes closed
In every house you ever lived in
Just in case you saw
What was laughing and your heart stopped
Like a UFO
Over the black mountain

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There was an old organ in their new house
He sat up all night
Playing the organ
Bashing out haunting tunes on the organ
His eyes staring through the purple wall
Candles flicking shapes up the purple wall
While she watched over the children
With a prayer tattooed onto her tongue

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We lived in a cottage in the woods
At night the people
With pig faces
And sheep faces
And dog faces
Would stand around the cottage
Making soft animal noises
Waiting to be fed
By you
Only you

 

_____________

Bobby Parker

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