The Written Word

 

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how to survive

cook a pot of soup
lentils bay leaf cinnamon
call your enemy as guest
serve double portions

sit down next to
the man with the gun
talk of his grandfather
start painting his portrait
likeness to the ancient mariner

when appropriate
watch the planes nose diving
talk of tactics
become a tree                    juli Jana

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shoes for a diva

the heel leans sideways
a tower of pisa

ankle straps give a forward thrust
destination the ball of the foot

toes are left evenly spread
by cutting a windowed toe exit

a twisted red bow
pinned sideways off the arch’s apex
portends to frustrate those with a foot fetish
desiring to undo the strap
stroke the evenly lined up toes
the high instep

all is left unsaid
yet all will be said in the first step        juli Jana

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marble piano on display

carved to perfection

no strings attached
no resounding woodwork

a lack of vibration

white notes interspersed with white
the black discarded

no half tones

hard

silent

center stage                                juli Jana

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research – heart of london

salisbury court fleet street,
samuel pepys calls on a surgeon to remove a gall stone, first a pipe is used up the penis to locate it, then
it isremoved it with a pair of pliers – it gets used as a paperweight   1658

hole-in-the-wall tavern chandos street,
claude du vall beloved highwayman of the ladies
having come from venice to charm with manners
is captured & hung – not even king charles II can save him    1670

jerusalem passage,
coal merchant thomas britton stores coal a-plenty in his cellar, choral concerts held upstairs, he has table for composing, coffee costs a penny a cup
   1714

covent garden, boasts taverns theatres and coffee shops 22 gambling dens 56 brothels, fair rosamund sugarcunt creates her own perfume,
sells it to intoxicated love sick suitors
   1722

bunhill gardens,
dame mary page shows no fears at operations, is tapped 60 times yielding 240 gallons of water, she never complains & attains middle age
   1728

green canister in half moon street,
first sex shop sells flagellation machines & woman comforters in leather, also preservatives known as cundums
to stop the stream of bastard progeny especially for the royals
   1732

gentleman’s club white’s in piccadilly,
duke of queensbury courts ladies & wagers a wacky bet “short of time” that within an hour a 4 wheeled carriage can cover 19 miles,
he wins by using a whalebone & silk harness to lighten the load    1747

greek street 47,
casanova arrives from venice setting up lodgings in london,
advertises for young ladies claiming the art of seduction to be a profession,
he belittles a troublemaker by parading a parrot shouting charpillon is a whore    1763 if thy heart a male look to thy purse, if thou are a female look to thy heart – casanova

burlington arcade piccadilly,
lord cavendish has the arcade erected for his wife to shop in, safety excludes rowdies who throw oysters & enforces a code of conduct – no whistling no singing or opening of umbrellas
   1819

upper floor execeter exchange the strand,
edward cross having a menagerie here in the city centre
has an ageing destructive elephant chunee dissected publically, sells tickets for public to watch
   1826

athenaeum club pall mall,
honours the duke of wellington who defeated napoleon by erecting a granite block to use in dismounting his horse taking into account his old age
1830

royal acquirium & winter garden opposite westminister abbey,
the entertainer farini uses a 14 year old girl zazel as a human cannonball, shoots her a distance of 30 feet by means of a long tube fitted with springs,
crowds flock to see the spectacle
   1877

audley square mayfair
at the height of the cold war the lamppost with a little trapdoor on the side situated outside number 2, is used for message drops
by the russian secret service spies
   1950-60

old kent road bermondsey,
russell gray having been refused permission to build,
installs a 35ton T34 tank on a small plot
the council agreeing that he could have a tank  1995 juli Jana

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