3 Poems by Jim Bennett

roget

sometimes I feel
I would like to be someone else
someone interesting
someone who does things
in an interesting way
has a desire for knowledge
a morbid curiosity
a ghoulishness
beset with prurience,
a voyeur with scopophilia
an inquisitive busybody
a meddler, gossip
a quidnunc

a globetrotting sightseer
peeping Tom, Nosy Parker
eavesdropping
snoop

sometimes I feel
I would like to be anyone else
doing any other job
after all who wants
to spend thire lives
compiling, putting together
or collating
a thesaurus


wrong

Pink Floyd she cried
It was Pink Floyd
No said the quizmaster
It was Alice Cooper
Are you sure she added
Are you really sure
He was    and she lost
But nothing could cure her
Of saying everything twice
As if it made her right
Even when she was wrong


what remains

whenever I leave there is a reminder
of myself left  on surfaces      fingerprints
the skin flakes      fibre traces of life
and blood yes sometimes blood or other
body parts the liquids and solids that
pursue us with their indignity

years ago I wrote about a woman’s hair
found in a plughole long after
she had gone and this is the same
the self referential that is the biggest irony
for long after life leaves there are pieces
left in every place we touched

these are not what you wanted
to be remembered for      this is rubbish
that falls unseen   unknown     unclean    
in the end we are all left smeared
like a grease patch in a library book
waiting for the next borrower


Bionote

Jim Bennett lives near Liverpool in the UK and is the author of 71 books, including books for children, books of poetry and many technical titles on transport and examinations. His poetry collections include:
Drums at New Brighton (Lifestyle 1999); Down in Liverpool (CD) (Long Neck 2001); The Man Who Tried to Hug Clouds (Bluechrome 2004 reprinted 2006); Larkhill (Searle Publishing 2009); The Cartographer / Heswall (two poetry sequences) (Indigo Dreams 2012); He has won many awards for his writing and performance including 3 DADAFest awards (2002-4), Berlin Festival Prize (2004). He has been nominated for the Pushcart Award on seven occasions and for the Ted Hughes Award twice.  He is also managing editor of www.poetrykit.org one of the world’s most successful internet sites for poets. Jim taught Creative Writing at the University of Liverpool and now tours throughout the year giving readings and performances of his work.   See Jim Bennett’s website at http://www.poetrykit.org/jim/index.htm