A Little Story
Accounts they must be settled
Previously over-looked
Past dismissals
Blind eyes
Glazed gazes
No longer
Mistaken
Accounts
No longer
Mistook
Accounts they must be settled
Don’t be stupid
There’s always a cost
Does it feel
Sinister
Scary
Sinistrous
The build-up
The little black book
Not lost
Accounts they must be settled
Clasped binders
Stuffed nooks
And crannies
Behind stairs
Polythene-wrapped
Jam-packed
ledgers
Dark bibles
Without a prayer
The ones they thought had vanished
Extinct
Capoot
Brown bread
Arms high
In-time
With the ‘outrage’
‘What a joke!’
The lies
In the words he says
Looks around for the audience
‘It’s bullshit!’
Denial
Non-existence
Ignore it
‘Don’t believe a word she says’
*
Accounts they must be settled
The need to settle scores
You see
The truth
It hates to be banished
Feels dirty
Tucked away in the drawer
Stuffed alcoves
Filthy mattress
Closed doors
Closet casket
Hollow carcass
Loose skin
And bones
Easy target
Tight binding
The truth
Incarcerated
Confined
Solitary
Confinement
Going blind
*
Historical Indictment
*
The truth
Tough words
With no bend
The truth
Just waiting
Not asking
Accounts
They’re living
Not dead
Tight binding?
No matter
They’re active
Accounts
Just waiting
Play-Passive
*
*
Accounts they must be settled
The past
It has to be fair
What of penance?
Repossession
Reproof
Reproach
Rebuke
Redemption
What of good old-fashioned
Repair?
*
*
The arrogance
Avoidance
Grandiose
Narcissism
Two dimensional
A monkey
In drag
Faux fur
‘Gold’ shoes
A two-tone
One-trick
Pony
Desperate
Degenerate
Let loose
On the booze
An ego
Unwilling
To lose
*
Accounts they must be settled
Things taken too far
The pushing
And sticking
In places
Not there to be used
Calculated
Destructive
Obtuse
Sheer luck
Lady luck
Doesn’t like it
The pulling
The bulling
The push
The obstruction
So vulgar
Disrespectful
So
God damn
Fucking rude
*
Accounts they must be settled
Unearthed
Excavated
Exhumed
Accounts?
The denial
From where?
Accounts
The pretence
From whom?
Accounts
They’re waiting
Must be settled
From strangers
A long-time passed
Passengers on boats
That never made it
Monstrosities
Never built to last
Accounts from this time
And that
This time
That time
And then
That
Time
And
The other time
Remember when
Shiny artefacts
Remain from the past
The blade of the sword
Like a cutlass
The shards
Of the crystal glass
Accounts they have their numbers
One
Two
Three
Four
And
FIVE
Tally marks of chalk on the blackboard
The ones that always survive
Accounts they must be settled
Like ladies in-waiting
They sit
High-up
Low-down
At the back
In cheap seats
Stock-still
In the Gods
Back straight
Standing tall
In the stalls
Waiting
Waiting
Waiting
Pocket watch
Ticks
Tick
Tick
Tick
Ticking
The price of the past
As it tallies
Pocket counter
Clicks
Click
Click
Click
Clicking
The house has called time
No transactions
Clear the decks
Vacate the stalls
*
Accounts they must be settled
The cost of living
Sky-rocketed
Stratospheric
Exponential
Growth
That’s now decaying
Hyperinflation
Acceleration
Economies
Crumbling
Imbalance
Supply
No demand
The cost
of
Silence
Now
Extortion
*
Accounts they must be settled
Time to settle the scores
Confidence lost
High time for the bank run
Too late to bolt the doors
Cough-up
On all expenses
No longer such fun
On that dime
Sand filtered
No more
Depleting
It’s empty
A void
Of borrowed time
Accounts they must be settled
Time to return
What never was
Yours
Been counting
Calculations
Accumulation
No mistaking
Transaction declined
Cards froze
The cart is not light
But empty
There
Is
Nothing
No more
No escaping
No moula
Making rain
No condensation
All guards
Secure
The doors
No source
Or means
Of redemption
No hand
That can be played
Accounts they must be settled
Today
Is
The
Glorious
Day
The timing
Is interesting
Is curious
The
Time
That
Has
Ran
Away
Accounts they must be settled
Today
The
Collection
Day.
Woman in Conversation 