I had been instructed under pain of a certain kind of  punishment
to ingratiate my humanness,
write boldly within a stream of consciousness
maybe a modicum of winsomeness,
fuck-fuck candydaddy humour
and the certainty of truthfulness,
not fearing at scaring
or the scanning of human history
scarred, scared from the human remains or the threat of corporal

  punishment administered a while ago with a cane or a cudgel

a flail, a whip, the back of a hand
or when we were still schoolboys,
before we mixed with the cattyness
or the prettiness of girls
the softness of a plimsole
a gym slipper, a fishy gym kipper administered without absurdity
as such outlawed by British governments a long while ago
yet not long, long or long enough ago
at least that we can remember
who took us to task,
who rapped our knuckles with a stick
who used a half inch belt from a mechanical drill on the back of our knees
who used a steel ruler
Rulers, tyrants with not the hint of social disgrace
tortured without taunts
Tinamen Square the ‘we’ ultimately faced the face of authoritarian authority
who wore a metal face that shows no pity
when speaking of a certain contemporaneous justice
in the days that followed
not even weeks or of a Gandalfini style retribution
Sopranoed, desk-top publisher suicides
that survived the open road
unconcerned or committed to a mafia-style justice
like a leg for a leg, take me back to Sardinia or Sicily
a hand for a hand waving blithely in the mid-distance
somewhere’s over the rainbow of Old Testament, prophetic acquittal
spittle hanging from societies face
its not my face, its not your face, its not a pleasant face
a masked face, a face hidden with the eyes of justice staring
social justice is a scary clown
who wears a scary clown face
who remembers
written with your facebook eyes, your twitter stare
who you show your body parts too
your pubic hair, your cock, your gash,
you show your angel face on there, your pubic smile
its all the rage, the rage, justice, freedom, no shame
the picture dissapears so quickly, snapchat quickly
even retribution can be fun yet society is a serial killer
who orders kill or be killed, phantom killer with a scary clown face
an agonising compilation of stored thoughts and images
hard disc memories you cannot rub them out with an eraser
a spray can of graffiti won’t rub them out
there there, not gone forever
into the wherever
There there, society will not forgive you
it will haul you over coals
put you in its iron maiden
who suffocates your imagination
who brain washes your freedoms
brain-stored abuses yet none of even these
compares to societies scary clown face staring in your face
now that you are famous for a day, a month, a lifetime
bosh, bosh, another day in the gymslipper prison
your sentence    unrevoked    uncloaked
another reason not to hide
who was it spread your face around
now that there is now
now, nowhere left to hide

©edenbraytoday02.08.2021