Elephant Small
Vol 5
Stanski
Copyright©2013 Stanski
Crawling Distance
In Decline
The Night Jasmine
The Fourth Millennium
Hotel 27
A Fetish For Frustration
Elephant Small Vol 1
Elephant Small Vol 2
Elephant Small Vol 3
Elephant Small Vol 4
Cover photo © Stanski
Elephant Small
Vol 5
Contents
1. Still Standing
2. One In The Eye For Customs
3. Macrobatics
4. Wilderness
5. Fishing Chips
6. Work Song
7. No Short Cuts; Always The Scenic Route
8. Digital Display
9. Unwanted Gifts
10. Recession Persists
11. Number’s Up
12. Thanksgiving
13. Workaholics
14. Untouchable
15. Starter’s Orders
16. The Beginning Of The End
17. Seconds
18. Tardist
19. Super
20. John Doe
21. The Face Of Concern
22. Liar
23. An Offer I Can Refuse
24. Anniversary.
25. It’s Just Not Cricket
26. How Nairobic?
27. Indellible
28. Uncommon
29. Black Sheep Reprise
30. Wish You Were Here?
31. Light Source
32. Jobsearch
33. Treat Or Trick?
34. Shipshape
35. Not Least
36. Master Chef…?
37. Penny Drops
38. Rough Trade
39. Later That Same Evening
40. Cooking The Books & Writing On Walls For The Bone Idle
41. 0
42. Chick-ing Out
43. Spot The Difference
44. Parental Guidance
45. What’s My Name…?
46. Perfect Senses
47. OCD
48. The Clock Struck Five
49. Where There’s Life, There’s Hope
50. Ell Er Fence Maul Says Sir Ten Fingza Bow Tevo Loo Shun F Rit N Wurdz… Innit…?
1. Still Standing
The first time I died
Nobody noticed
No tears shed
No flowers
No regrets
The second time round
Only the killer
Was ever aware
And even then
It took ten years
Third time was different
It lasted longer
Missed by the two
People who knew
People who cared
If I should die
For a fourth time
Think only this
It’s not the end
Of me…
2. One In The Eye For Customs
One can only imagine
Original intention
To ‘deter terrorist acts’
However, on reflection
(and two weeks in Majorca)
Government announcement
That the vast majority
Of ordinary tourists
Who’d endured the procedure
Felt it an infringement
On their civil liberties
An intrusion on their rights
And so the Coalition
Confirmed it intends to scrap
Plans to make compulsory
The Biometric Passport
3. Macrobatics
Since about 1984
My big brother’s been watching me
Through the lens of his automatic
Photographic device
Now I must keep my eye on him
Keeping his eye on me
This close up attention to detail
Is taking the zoning system
One f-stop step too far
Wouldn’t you agree, Ansel?
It may be a contradiction
To say this over-exposure
Develops to project
A negative image of me
Making my actions transparent
When I wish to remain low-key
4. Wilderness
Despondency, anxiety
Rice fields bear no rice
Fat Cats’ grain stores taunting me
My glass half-empty now
I toiled long hours; prepared the ground
Seeds I planted prospered
The sprouts I nurtured spread too thin
Too few and far between
Alarm bells rang; I overslept
My clock was running slow
The rain fell hard; too hard for some
Perished plots bear witness
The rice I reap will make me rich
Christmas harvest bonus
But drought has come to visit us
The worst we’ve seen in years
A vision, a recurring dream
Parched grass that bears no grain
Phuket’s tsunami in reverse
The carnage in its wake
5. Fishing Chips
Up North
where I come from
where, when it’s not raining
it’s overcast
and people say
what they mean
and they mean
what they bloody well say
eating out means the Chippy.
Not Fish Bar
or Fish Shop
or Fish ‘n’ Chip Restaurant
We’re talking real Fishing Chips
(are fishing chips, chips that catch their own fish?)
They don’t do
French fries
pommes frites
Nouveau Cuisine
Not our cup of tea
They don’t do
mayonnaise dip
they only do
salt and vinegar
Economy gastronomy
cheap at half the price
cheap as chips
If it’s a big fish you’re after
for the larger appetite
they also do
double portions
twice the chance to catch that fish
twice as many fishing chips
fishing…?
(Should have seen the one that got away!)
Fishing chips catch
Haddock, Cod
(complete with rod
hook, line and sinker?)
Or, if you’re feeling flush
even Plaice
Mushy peas can be added
Bread and butter
and a mineral
Tea is served every night
at six o’clock
(Unlike the Americans
we eat dinner
at dinner time
noon)
Fishing chips for Friday tea
wrapped in greaseproof
and newspaper
up North
where I come from
where, when it’s not raining
it’s overcast
6. Work Song
Strange town
Longsight M13
What difference does it make?
Working 9 to 5
Money for nothing
A means to an end
The hardest thing in the world…
Something better change
I don’t like Mondays
Help!
I wanna be sedated
(Yeah, yeah) Industrial estate
Acknowledgements:
Work Song – Ca
nnonball Adderly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBxAC4ywaJ4
Strange town – The Jam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4tEX8tm6qw
Longsight M13 – Ian Brown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV70kw7S7xQ
What difference does it make? – The Smiths https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5DE8UQnM5Y
Working 9 to 5 – Dolly Parton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpKAA2VxWY8
Money for nothing – Dire Straits https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5ZEzWwKJnY
A means to an end – Joy Division https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPG_TCX2Z0k
The hardest thing in the world - The Stone Roses https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLser2OWa74
Something better change – The Stranglers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSEOzimKnEY
I don’t like Mondays – The Boomtown Rats https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er5uuCYi7q4
Help! – The Beatles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU7JjJJZi1Q
I wanna be sedated – The Ramones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rxJroWIg1Y
(Yeah, yeah) Industrial estate – The Fall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKECj238-Lo
7. No Short Cuts; Always The Scenic Route
Yesterday; a day of broken promises
Ineffective guarantees, followed immediately by disclaimers
Same old same old Rat Race
Old too soon? Long time Dying?
Life is tough; deal with it!
Today, I choose a different path
No short cuts; always scenic route
As sure as day follows night
Tomorrow follows today, bringing fresh hope
The best is yet to come
8. Digital Display
At first clumsy, hesitant
Words wouldn’t come easily
Until a single-digit surge
Under pressure, from the Right
Delivered the message LOUD – unclear
Syllables s-s-stuttered across the screen
Middle finger soon joined index
And later thumb....... for spacebar
Later still, five fingers were tapping
Was it the sound of one hand clapping?
Or was it just a classic case
Of the left hand never really knowing
What it was the right hand was doing?
At every opportunity then
I practiced my new-found skill
The only thing I could ever do
With one hand tied behind my back
Day after day
Night after night
Time after time
Time and again
Again and again
Repetition, refrain
Repetition defined
Definition refined
Never relaxing
Often head scratching
Sometimes nail biting
Always typewriting
Left hand going through the motions
Playing an occasional cameo role
But even two decades down the track
The left hand still doesn’t really know
What its partner, the right hand is doing
9. Unwanted Gifts
The vastness of space
Is not nearly enough
To contain all those gifts
Unwanted
Ignored
Or returned unopened
Consideration
Love
Peace
Compassion
Faith
Hope
Charity
To name but a few
In favour of thought
Ignorance is bliss
Apathy prevails
Hatred
Hostility
Cynical attitudes
Suspicion
Despair
And self-serving greed
Only if we take
Possession
Ownership
Of what’s rightfully ours
But wrongfully spurned
Then
And only then
Can we realise
Our full potential
Certain in the knowledge
All things are possible
10. Recession Persists
State of the art premises
Cutting edge machinery
Microchip technology
Computer Aided Design
A world class management team
And a highly skilled workforce
A winning combination
A recipe for success
One ingredient missing
… The Mother of Invention
11.Number’s Up
Wake up O-seven O-O
Bathroom, for a number one
Or maybe a number two
Then four minutes in the shower
At forty five Centigrade
Breakfast – bet you can’t eat three
Cup of coffee, zero milk
One sugar… stirred to the left
Twelve paces to the front door
Into my four door saloon
A sixteen hundred cc
Five forward gears, one reverse
Some take the ninety nine bus
Arrive at work eight thirty
Day starts at nine on the dot
Ends at five, or thereabouts
Then back home, to Number Nine
Takeaway dinner tonight
Chinese, number forty two
Pork in green pepper, black beans
Two or three glasses of wine
Then up thirteen stairs, to bed
And I don’t mean forty winks
Morning, back to the grindstone
Five days a week, forty hours
Fifty two weeks every year
Until I reach sixty five…
Then, one day… my number’s up…
12. Thanksgiving
Although not American
On this day, especially
I have reason to recall
And reasons to be grateful
Funny how you remember…
(Some things, you just don’t forget)
Must be fifteen years ago
… Seems like only yesterday
You didn’t ask me for it
But I knew you wanted it
You didn’t even say it
But it was clear you meant it
Just an item of clothing
But you folded it, neatly
Tucked it into bed with you
Probably dreamt about it
It was such a privilege
I’m eternally grateful
For having witnessed such an
Expression of gratitude
13. Workaholics?
Only just awake if truth be known
Still hung-over from last night’s session
Pen in hand, and a freshly inked nib
I check-in my pal, another lush
so the boss won’t know he’s passed out, drunk
We blame the clunk and thud of presses
(and the Coalition Government)
for a condition that resurfaced
when we thought it was under control
We’ve both spent time at de-tox session
Been named, shamed and dragged over the coals
Forklifted from the ash-pit, hand washed
and hung over the boiler, to dry
Still we don’t seem to understand why
the consumption of alcoholic
beverages is prohibited
while operating machinery
14. Untouchable
Morning, bathed in rays of golden sun
Met her for a sink or swim showdown
Hoping we could pool our resources
Shall we synchronise watches? I try
Should have gone to greater lengths than that
Am I in her thoughts…? Won’t hold my breath
Learn to crawl before you walk; she laughs
That would take a stroke of luck; I think
One of us may have to take a dive
Which will send me right back to square one
Passing on the water; ships – that’s us
In her presence, I’m out of my depth
She’s aloof; Madame’s a butterfly
Floating freestyle through a crowded room
Clutching secrets to her heaving breast
15. Starter’s Orders
You'll always be at least one step behind
Don't ever let it out of your sight
You'll never get ahead of it
So aim to catch up with it
And if, and when, you do
Grab it with both hands.
With all your heart
Cherish it...
Own it...
On your marks...
Get set...
Go...!
16. The Beginning Of The End
It's starting
Just beginning
When will it finish?
Where will it end?
From start to finish
From beginning to end
It's starting to finish
Beginning to end
17. Seconds
Floor level base
Place name; City Row
Income generation;
Class act skin gear fiddle
Time around World War year
'Lieutenant' in command
Sight person sitting
Interview, rate chance
String thoughts
Form opinion
Best guess
Helping hand
Coming home to none
18. Tardist
What’s a Tardist?
What’s it got?
What’s a what?
What’s a Tardist?
Not a ‘what’
No it’s not
It’s a ‘who’
As in Time Lord Doctor Who
Who’s a Tardist?
You say Doctor Who is a Tardist?
Doctor Who is only The only Tardist
Pilot of a Time Machine
No less
Tell me you can see what I mean
Oh yes
To drive a TARDIS
Is not the hardest task to face
Regardless of Time and Space
In any case
They’re mere dimensions