Art

A Two Pronged Attack on People Skills – Gwil James Thomas

Putting Poems in Pockets/What Would GG Allin Do?

 

I read that GG Allin told his fans
to write ‘GG Allin’
on banknotes
to spread the message,
as the last thing that people were
going to throw away was money.

That’s when I’d had another
genius idea –
I’d pen my poems on banknotes!

With a poem scribbled on a fiver
in my pocket I’d then wandered to
the corner shop picked up a packet
of Flamin’ Hot Monster Munch,
stepped up to the till and handed
over the five pounds –
hoping that the snotty nosed worker
would put my poem into circulation
without realising,
or maybe just be blown away,
with mysterious wonder
at the poem before him
and who put it there?

“I can’t accept this mate,
it’s covered in graffiti.” he said.

And after some debating with him
and then the manager about art
and legal tender –
the poem returned to my pocket.

It’s not the money –
it’s the mission!
I reminded myself as I wandered home,
once again looking
to submit my poetry
elsewhere.

 

Mankind

 

Appears as a washed up
used condom
on a once serene shore –
chases the terrified pit viper
with fresh blood on its fangs,
as mankind
threatens it with legal action
after waking it –
is heard as a scream
by sabbatical explorers
in a town that
nature reclaimed,
unsure as to whether
the scream
belongs to ghosts
of mankind’s past,
or to those of
its future.