The Fingers of the Mermaid, The Toes of the Fool
Volume 21 2nd Quarter 2010
1- DRESSED FOR WORK- Not competition standard apparently What are you trying to do to me I make most of my decisions In bare feet in a teeshirt With a fag on The future of Work Stadiums full for all I care Turn up in fancy dress if you dare Many benefits to this freedom We turn up when we like Monster you are she calls me The double crown upon your head Of Upper and Lower Egypt From where the Cherwell and the Thames are led Right up into the City The rules are different there Osiris with a heart-shaped jug upon his head now a make of sunglasses and trainers for the kids
2- ABOVE THE WHEEL FLOWERS GROW- Now we’ve both got websites Four irons in the fire Sometimes we need a point of contact Just to make it work A space has opened above the Wheel and across from The Emperor From Kali’s day to the land I love Building it a greater Wheel What has come out of my head all these years Where all our futures come To miss a sister and a friend And gain a mother a half-sister and a cousin Families of England send When we are in the middle My London contacts not enough To pursue with the show
3- SACRIFICE- Shampoo Towel Razor Blade Toothbrush Pills In a plastic bag in case something spills Horse sacrifices herald an Emperor It is a Buddhist ritual Like a horse’s head on your bed When the Mafia have killed Presumably they break in without warning And know where you live A horse sacrifice I make for you I cannot be in two places at once I will forget them for the moment Bumping up now bumping off We hope for some reviews
4- SECRETS- Fantasy’s Insane Well we all know what that means Witchworld’s Illusion sparks off more confusion Starts with me and two girls A Witch King and two Witch Elves It is what we grew up with What we were led to create Studying the Ways of Art Studying hidden secrets Dominis Liminis Porta Lucis A staging post on the way up to Edinburgh My house it seems Street Legal like Dylan said Sitting smoking on the doorstep Questioning the Signor For our eternal quest The dynastic express That will pass in generations beyond us Whenever something goes wrong we blame someone else
5- THE FINGERS OF THE MERMAID THE TOES OF THE FOOL- Use my toes to balance in the stirrup irons All the fingers and toes A foot in the door Landlord for a pub Landlord for a property Reaching out across the swimming pool 0 and 17 a sceptre for the Queen Always in the middle Like an orange and a voodoo doll Looking at the Atu Back to back again Feeling out to the outside world The money will clear by 5.30 Had me visiting banks all afternoon Only one account it could go into- had to take a risk Finally awarded Jobseeker’s Allowance To find my card temporarily blocked- Formalities! But for a bank to deny a government payment...? They let me take out 140 first The bank took 50 I gave fifty of it to you They refunded me 120 Offer to pay a nominal amount A pound to each account Like a gold coin upon a round altar Never made it to the cricket club do I did not dare eclipse you I did not want to steal your thunder
6- PAYMENT RELEASED- Fifteen runes it will be now A Post Office savings And a new bank account How much I can withdraw each day will be the deciding factor Instant transfers at light speed Cause for no delay There will be money for petrol again Just in time And tobacco We’ll be fine I lost that Primum Mobile goat’s head ring Unaccountably somewhere in your flat- a time of inward looking And you lost your keys again Let no man tear asunder
7- BATTLE SCENE- Twelve purple candles We pay out for a while Then the next generation pays for us To dance along the mile Had to cancel a story just so you weren’t eclipsed That is what these shows are like The next battle scene All this I give to you Victoria need not be on a spiral For all her manic episodes By the end she’s holding fine By association your family disagree Amazing what we can do Considering that we are only water and some microbes
8- UP IN THE CROW’S NEST- They make us rely on each other So that we pull together The makings of a novel for “the many people” With whatever’s available Look for something bigger Fairway Cottage McGregor Road City of Lancaster “Samantha’s Hotline” A Polo Yard “Sky Burial” The Games Workshop haven’t yet censored my site But haven’t offered work either They would have objected if I sent it elsewhere Four horses bought and sold one buried Eleven albums What I did before the World Need some images for an abacus For me there’s always my Empress A higher one is Elle Come to terms with a Metal That girls actually do Sky Burial alone seems to get through Not Winnie the Witch Or a Warlock’s Tarot That will never find a publisher For a book on Magick Or for Astrologers Reference to the Voodoo My definitions are accurate
9- ASPECTS OF THE DRAGON- Morathi she is spreading further Full of promise yet Haven’t most of them recovered Them in the safety net Or remaining hidden and guilt ridden Not to walk tall in the World of Men She is my only point of contact After all with most of them Kali has her casualties too Now in 2010 Am I led to believe that She doesn’t know About Alison’s children then? See years of my life Flash before my eyes When we argue Our continuing tension seems to sell the show The Morathi image has gone from my website Microsoft want to run some program on it This website wants to run... On her dragon Hands and Feet Claws Wings and a tail Moving into battle The mysterious fog In front of us Share in our experiences What I bring to her too
10- YOUR ILLUSION- Enjoy the distance and the contrast From one end to the other That’s not work but It uses all the attributes Use the same infrastructure Three critics came And slagged her off Really well though Mixed reviews are better than none at all Then they say It is your illusion And in a way It probably is Your system has recovered from a Serious Error So I am always being told Lowered my privacy settings Because I was too strict And then this
11- LINKED TO OTHER SITES- If you’re on spareroom.co.uk why not visit fairwaycottage.co.uk Free information site To see what else I have to say Come to a conference A heel on the cover of Clockwork Mouse A heel on The Wheel (at Culworth) A heel on A Warlock’s Tarot Obsessed with girls again Grass Widow has my blanket twice Like plenty of time in bed Find me on monster.co.uk Switched my status over to public so that employers can find my site So you can search for me in Media Previous record no longer a mystery What do they see- a Geneaology Pay him Pay them Pay him Pay her then we’re free Is that what I am led to believe? Opens up the Geography Or what we know of our Area James Bond evenings at a Motor Museum A dentist in Brackley Back in Oxford for a reunion From Tales of the Unexpected to Queen Nefertiti’s Tomb What do you see in me? Mister Employer? Literacy? Contacts and Camera work still and moving images? Chronicles of the Emperor? Fifteen years on the High Seas with Sophie Hacking on bridleways On bright sunny days Or the Culworth Gang In darkened rooms We have all the animals I have made a bit of a thing about this place
12- PAINTED UP- It takes “Active X” to run Morathi on her dragon suddenly XX a woman strident in battle On my website The image got removed- they’re not giving us a chance! Perhaps The Games Workshop have been through And scanned for breaches of copyright They don’t want a White Dwarf Tarot but cannot mind my references to them They hanen’t asked for them to be removed “Active X” chromosome “Active X” gene Wherever we go she steals the scene DO you dare click on and let the website have its way A secret image will be revealed- have faith Not seen as good an image here Since when that Dark Elf Sorceress Was pictured with her Chaos Space Marine for Hyperspace Transit Chill Balls and Cubes and Frames Done it with the Magazine Done it with the Band Done it with Sophie Mapping out our territory The computers glitch And management tries To change plans on me at a moment’s notice Games Workshop could not find me a job In their stores or magazine They did not want my Tarot either who knows where that’s been Maybe I should write a Fantasy novel about some High Elf Mages Try to find some more Photo opportunities For my little men and women All the games we have been through Me with other people I showcased some taskforces But got my files corrupted Constructions of varying components Form a united front Witch Elves Harlequins Sisters of Battle Eldar Warlocks and the rest Sorcerors and High Elf Mages Couples’ games and Chaos Knights Ogre Kingdoms picking fights And Space Marines in all their liveries And still Morathi with her Sorceror In two separate images
13- PROMISE- I can ride the horses When I am not in London That is how it’s got to be Keep the workers happy Sold to the highest bidder On Monsalvat that I lost My virginity In Val d’Isere Or sought the hidden peach stone Waters of Eternal Life Tank Girl in your biker boots Come ride for free Internal Memos Policy Documents Plans for a Life This is what we do with your Money Plans for Business If the Sun shines in the morning it’s Hallelulah Brother! Lift the soul to another place London Weighting for the Rat Race Split up with my first proper girlfriend In Paradise In Ubud On Bali
14- BEWARE THE GAY BAR- That twenty quid above my dole Takes and gives a whole load of work Takes all seven days to earn Accepted willingly though Hard to come by To climb up to a higher goal... “Straight friendly” gay bar Freedon Soho in the West End Nearly pulled our second Wednesday Always need something to fall back on Pink fluffy cubes to sit on And poledancing poles in the ceiling I’ve done religions for years More accurate is History And remember when You’re on your horse You’ve got no-one else to rely on But yourself
15- JONTY RECOMMENDS- Jonty swears by Dublin gloves Frank Ward full length brown suede chaps I never seem to need a whip Jonty swears by Rolling up Golden Virginia Relax in Radox Stress Relief bubble baths Orange top up pay as you go Herbal Essences shampoo Who sponsor Desperate Housewives or used to Gives my hair good condition Gillette Sensor razors The Walrus and the Carpenter The March Hare, and a pidgeon fancier! A fit fox will fuck off anyway... Cartoon with candle Draw down the Power A Foot and a Mermaid back to back...
16- FIGHT THE DEVIL- But when I walked out on The Night of Pan, The Beltane Feast, I knew I had avoided the needles And the embarassment Of many a gentle soul Before the Devil As he sought to bring England’s finest To their knees In temptation and slavery On May Day’s Eve Blackmailed and shamed maybe Never to be granted responsibility Dissected by a bloodthirsty public Damage our reputations It lasts about six months you know The Dark Night of the Soul
17- OUT OF THE HISTORY BOOKS- Mouton Rothschild have announced They will support the Hotline With twelve bottles of wine For every show And redsigned your Artwork Maybe in a field of France Like that field over Priors Marston way We find our allegiance sown Lush green grass swapped at both ends Sophie is now free to choose Her “Lucky Dozen” each time! Like a dowry she has found Some faith To stand before Some image Some interest in taking this Somewhere together... From the fairytale castle at Waddesden Manor Not far from the Roald Dahl museum At least two grands worth of wine will be delivered Henry VI parts I, II, and III The Earl of Suffolk and Joan of Arc Appear at the Party Straight Parallel Coincidence His wife Margaret of Anjou Slightly more important We have found an ally each Perhaps in Worcestershire And near Bordeaux Meet us in the middle so
18- WANDS KNIGHT- Knight of Wands takes the rubbish out I often think of that somehow It is the Season for loving... Sung to violins In the Lord of the Rings No Quarter for the Impressarios Selling their commodities Find chance alliances On the telephone Different products working together A groom for my horses A groom for my cats A groom for my cottage A groom for your flat Ride one horse and jailer to the two on either side A groom for Sophie Shovelling shit again Struggle I struggle Like I had never had the misfortune to ride To keep it all clean and tidy Same shit only the depth varies I hoover round there and there Prepared to put the hours in to keep both ends afloat And try to offer rooms to spare Brush down their coats and pick out their feet And generally shovel shit! Hay in one end shit out the other! Just one end is too limiting...
19- ELECTION MANIFESTOS- How I got my vote I state My ballot form arrived too late For the deadline of the postal date How badly organised or deliberate I find life quite sarcastic Not to be unswerved away I sought to vote by proxy Amazingly I printed off the form Once Acrobat had been installed Then when in London phoned a friend To cast for me back at Culworth’s end Not sure what I agree with really But I won’t lose my stab at Democracy What have the Romans ever done for us A horseman in a safe Tory seat Makes you wonder of the political persuasion of the Department for Work and Pensions Marxist warlord says to me Keep the workers happy Help thos who are lower down You can safely ignore the higher ones
20- AND NOW...- “Religion is the opiate of the people” I don’t think that- it’s great Loads of parallels to refer to Situations in a state Rely on the company leaders to run the place From silver discs of Sky Burial to Samantha’s Hotline DVDs Marketing Promotion Sales We are doing those kind of jobs anyway It’s all Selling unfortunately In my neck of the woods First Lorna Then Helen, Elaine and Dave, Jezzy and Laura, and Mark and Amy Have seen what we’re up to these days Get one to Ian and Chris finally When a family showing never materialised Until a year had passed Doesn’t he Want to know where I go?
21- IN A HAYSTACK- You found me amazingly In the middle of Twickenham Stadium When the Rolling Stones they played back in 2006 The stage came out into the crowd And I knew you were standing there Behind me in 80,000 people I’d seen them at Wembley twice before This time we caught Madonna A week earlier fresh off a flight From South Africa In amongst all these people We found a life together
22- SUN SWIRLING ROUND- A White Dwarf is the technical description for Our Sun in Our Galaxy “like White Dwarf upon the streets” in “Sword across the Centuries” Shines upon the horizon Summon up new faces for another day Aspects of our correspondances All in the loop somewhere somehow That’s when books are like Magickal Doorways Someone you suddenly meet Its characters jump out before you Littered with Heavy Metal miniatures Laundering money by putting on A Show That gives us all A hint of respectability For our hidden agendas Tempting the good audience to indulge in some wine All the Fingers and Toes Pull on our contacts And pool our resources Perhaps to later swell the numbers of A.A. Gun running and politicking Swap my claim over to London And still get paid perfectly acceptable Staying in a friend’s home and keeping my own
23- WILL THEY HAVE US?- Like the Merry Pranksters But prominent businessmen We finally got a look in July’s Warwickshire Life Magazine Three months later but not left on the cutting room floor Like The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test We promote our neck of the woods At the Round Tables As we do best I may be repeating myself now But I’ve got to get it out somehow And publish an event you never went to Or weren’t even invited to attend My contacts could make friends two quid for four bits of Hot barbecue chicken From the Sainsbury’s Ladbroke Grove Deli Counter Due to so much negativity We put it out ourselves
24- LICENCE RENEWED- Great big headache retaxing my car Chip in the windscreen could not be repaired Replaced in the morning Then off to resit the MOT Off to the Post Office Too much simplicity Mad dash to Oxford for the DVLA Where they took every last penny To pay I got another year though A miracle I’d say Thank God I took some out the night before Or there would not have been enough On my £200 a day It took me fifteen minutes to swap them over but the meter was £2.40
25- THE SPREAD- *found in a totally deserted house with only a female cat living there
- We will invade you We will import you We will bring you Into our Realm The storm clouds are broody The lightning is flashing The Power of Ages You hear all around you Thumping the rhythm A nightmare a fantasy Push back the frontiers Something beyond you You try to control We make you strong We make you immortal Strewn with your passing This planet will roll Go brave in the Sunlight We offer you futures The chance of connection Paired off as lovers Swords clash as dominion To each their own Bright pink the roses Set off by their foliage Making a centre in an object of glass Meet at the Table At the start of New Worlds These are all things that we have plans to do Worn on our chests on a glorious day I get them all out there into the Media For that is exposure The extent of our Spread A chance for a talent To shine ever brighter A breakthrough long sought for Unchained from the fetters The darkness of servitude Fight back the voices that will only to subdue Dangling a hook we open a window What we can do for each other Is beyond mere words The closed circle that steal from us We must conquer Don’t deny us our birthright Our share of the planet We are coming through We prove our Metal through conflict like you
26- TWICE- They don’t sell it in Banbury Warwickshire Life I’ve had to broaden my horizons And head up to Leamington Spa twice A new focus of attention She has always been a bit off with me, their editor I am now forced to drive up there again The nearest place I can hope To see my story in print Musing upon its contents Returning home to rescue my mortgage To find my cat’s gone missing It wasn’t in there in the end Something I don’t want to accept but have to live with Fooled a second time Like my failed attempt to get into Oxfordshire Life with some ruins at Minster Lovell But my cat came home again At five in the morning
27- AVOID THE EMBARASSMENT- You think you can have anybody But I prevented you From getting the Queen Even if the Queen herself Would have liked you on her scene At my expense And bump me off my slot again You would have done it to spite me And get one over me Who’s that woman on your arm It would have been I will make sure you never meet Five years of recording our relationship into song Must have given you some idea Crosstown Woman touching the sky Something to be envious of I see Your music comes at too high a price
28- SETBACKS- They’re giving out free wine Sophie and her snoring cameraman They’re all so fucking marvellous Apparently Because they think That they are a bit better than me Just watch their negativity She puts up a valiant effort Sophie But she doesn’t want to go with me For love or money But I still loom large on the Horizon I wish it were different But it’s not apparently They do not have the energy or inclination
29- HAND TO THE BRIDLE- I know how to hold Three horses at once It’s quite a skill I bet they’re good at handling arguments That family Handling the bridle As you will A couple of things fall into place At the same time Never quite seem To be able to afford Orange juice in the Morning Whatever flavour catfood for breakfast And what colour teeshirt Horse head revolving next in the day Push for positive is the way If it is a train Turn into Zero the Hero again Colours of the Emperor Make some effort to break away from black And give the World some meaning Choose a colour it’s your day No time for second thoughts With something quite this physical Look at my toothbrush and say to myself “Where am I this morning?”
30- OPEN FOR BUSINESS- Four girls from the Phillipines Run into town for four sets of keys They all tapped away on my wireless broadband And there was hot water enough Four fine fillies says Soph! No glaring omissions when they came to stay In a situation of several possible outcomes Eight sets of keys- a candle working Avatar bodies Not possible to be killed Transfer our consciousness Into the physical plane Like the spark on a fly zapper Dealing with a horse That spins in circles Dealing with problems For the Edinburgh show Being Planets many people Inhabit us Being Legion possessed Too many lives too many Masters
31- GOT TO GET ON- Doctor and Dentist no longer in Brackley Sophie plagued by health problems But in Old London Town A front tooth that chipped one night at Sophie’s Even though paying the mortgage Keeps me based at home Temptation is only one line in a sentence easily forgotten All set up for thirteen days With as yet nowhere to go The train like a tunnel A light at either end Margaret appears bearing wine A double-edged sword for as you know They want to sell their own And now Rothschilds Wine Has so offended the Smart City Cafe That they have cancelled the show So much for the Da Vinci Code last remainders of a Merovingian Dynasty But the Inner Temple do not drink at all
32- DIRECTION MONDAY- Torn between the countryside The chance of a baby Risk losing your friendship for the sake of my Freedom And a longstanding wife Back on again six years ago Direction Monday Wherever Monday is Direction Scarecrow Maximum Impact I do it sometimes because I love you Sometimes because you order me And sometimes because I want to keep you All these emotions of yours I could not bear to be without Feel you strong in my company Feel you come and hug me Wait for you to kiss me Every day Sometimes I have to say these things For the sake of us A woman sits on top of a Devil skull The extent of her man’s dreaming
33- MYSTIC DREAMER- Where I got noticed- Gypsy Rose Jonty- My images for the small cards aren’t really tied to the symbolic value of their number but more to the symbolic value of the names these cards are commonly given A photo to describe each situation Cards for Hearts and Bridge and Whist Backgammon and Chess Gaming dice for sure success Up and down stairs Dungeons and Dragons Like a two-man band we go She says I am her right-hand man Somehow like the Carpenters... Pink rose or red for union Tan suede cowboy boots The rose of Cruelty on my Tarot The rose of Lancaster Gypsy Rose Jonty Long hair and willowy
34- GRACE- This year in the last race At Ascot I got a second place I hang back and let The master ride ahead I like to ride with grace And get some rhythm going For some simple etiquette I made a 63p profit! Dare not put them out When they are in the saddle I have been back to Yards 3 and 4 Still involved with Yard 7 Mark walked off with my Top Hat Is he trying to run out my wardrobe- Jezzy got it back And my black tie is still in Sophie’s flat In a black plastic bag Edward hoping for me to skid In the ice and I did But later he ran into a ditch
35- PLAYWRIGHT- Bucket and Spade adventure Torch and Sword The Glass Bead Game The Washed Stone Rune Game Tara’s Train Set Star Station Janet Maybe Dialogue boxes Speech bubbles It’s not Features it’s much more like Personalities Directions for a Plot How to put the plot into words If it is not interesting enough to write It will never be a good read Settled into a two week lunchtime slot At the Edinburgh Football Club With an eye on other venues elsewhere Beware the Prophet Zarquon Too late Too late to save the World With his henchman’s mixed allegiances Plotting uncles of the King Do they think it’s their town Or will we take it! A Glass Wedding A Rose Quartz Gemstones Six Matches Victory A crystal communication Five Matches Strife A Ruby Something out of the Box not in a Tarot Box... Spread the Love across the airwaves from the Crystal Ship... Some matches and a crystal and a screwdriver got us the Edinburgh City Football Club gig- some fine tuning like a radio set! I still have that photo, red sports car on the matchbox in that drawer somewhere
36- A TIME FOR DOCUMENTS THAT WILL SAVE THE SHOW- “Greek Gods are fine” is all I would say We have moved mountains Just to get to this night Dark Elf Army expanding territory At the High Table in black tie Doesn’t end like Happy Families Does it ever I had only given up horses For a year before I sought you out again Lost somewhere in Death Metal Since the demise of Sky Burial Publish only the information I’m prepared to have broadcast Only what I am prepared to divulge Don’t let children breathe your smoke Make them buy their own It seems we have taken a fork in the road
37- EIGHT GATES OF HELL- A picture for each poem The words lead the way Find a photo to match Always works out somehow so it seems Or I’d never get to see anybody Or at the boardroom table Left empty At the Royal Masonic Hospital At the Wheel of Seven Spokes Eight Gates of Hell But since then we’ve found Edinburgh Let’s Go! I’ve got wheels And I can spare you the time in the day Trying to do something for ourselves Won’t find a cheaper rental anywhere else The Scarlet Woman visited me In the clinic in Chelsea when others had given up hope Like the Tarot of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh that Chris the gardener lent to me
38- TWO CENTRE ADVENTURE- Mars Apollo Cerberus Poseidon Have all been involved In processing this information When and how much Will you pay? Bipolar adventures Above survival Free to create Our Soap Opera to date Like the Actor’s Agent who won’t give you a break This is what we make with our money The skull of a goat with its horns Two women on the go The horns are the crown of our Kingdom and lovelives A double life across two locations Pulled in two diections Along the Harrow Road The River Styx The road to Edinburgh passes through Maida Vale To the M1 at Staples Corner Straight past the Elgin Bar and Grill Leads us on our journey Like that Temple you can see from the train At the Wycombe Caves Do not need a London home The Fairway Cottage: As big and as cheap as any rental We did not have to split up in the end In fact we just kept going And wiggled on the 31 bus route That takes you to Camden Town straight up onto Kilburn High Road
39- CHECKLIST- Two chairs A whip some glasses Your court shoes A cowgirl hat Carrots and houmous and a bowl Two bottles of wine With stoppers a watch The Financial Times Two mobile phones a radio Lipstick and nail varnish A bible a money box Blackcurrant squash Two stage lights and cable ties An extension lead A wine glass Charge the camera again email adresses of the audience to create a mailing list Blackout drapes scissors blutack binliners and sellotape Half a second of darkness between parts One and Two
