Polaroids

Hands on the casket

Handful soil

Hand a rose to the widow

She lays it tastefully angled down and to the right

The mahogany and the white contrast nicely

As well as the black tie attire

The air of this event, somebody was important

But a distant stare proves too strong to ignore it

Little window on the ground floor of the chapel

And the face pressed up against it make fog breath

Highlights of a fading heart

Raindrops on the hood of the El Dorado

Her acrylics clicking on the headlight

Her bubblegum poppin' her head slightly angled down and to the right

And her angel pendant dangling

Like a lynched bird space for a last prayer

Pained like a pinched nerve, awaiting a last word

Posture reading last straw

Tempered stance of her partner is palpable even out of the frame

And without her naming his crime he must be prostrate

Like a last prayer awaiting a last word

Posture reading fuck whiteboard

Multicoloured lines in dry-erase

Roughly angle down and to the right

This is right before the leap through the open window

But in the moment it's all smiles and perfectly crowned teeth

(Perfectly crowned teeth)

Someone looking secretary

No offence, but that's the air she gives off

With the pleated skirt and neatly tucked-in blouse

(Neatly tucked-in blouse)

Holds a phone as if it were a scarier event

That these executives who read her work don't even know about

(Don't even know about)

And frozen in this pantomime a moment

Where it happened, time would split off

With a fix to make its mighty mountains cry

(Mighty mountains cry)

The curled lip and terror eyes

A giveaway of what she hides

The back side of the picture, dated 1929

All of these photos tucked neatly in a box

And hidden in a sock drawer or underneath the bed

Memories are gobos making shadows on the locked

Present that has been fixed, so it's best to leave them dead

Don't bother with it, live lobotomy

Split a bottle better

Drink the god and leave the

Past behind for the fire

Don't, nobody want these Polaroids

Don't bother with it, live the lighter side

Split a spliff together

Smoke the god and leave the

Past behind for the fire

Don't, nobody want these Polaroids

Hands in the air

Half eyes wide half eyes smiling

And a couple others with the heads covered up too afraid to look

The track slopes down and to the right

Rough guess two seconds from the top of the drop

The exhilaration on the faces of the riders

More than worth the price tag of the printout

Which was also way too high

Time-stamped by mullet length

And neon Billabong logo

And fitted cap with hologram sticker on the underside

That certainly won't last till the ride comes to a stop

Peace signs and wide grins in the foreground

In the background is great powerful

Cascade of water falling from way out of frame

Down and to the right

It's way out of place to say and way out of

But ain't it strange that both these kids are dead?

Anyway, the deep green of the foliage, so definitively wild

People used to drive to places like this just to escape

If you look close, you can see the early

Fibre optic cable stretching out into the jungle

The beginning of the end

A still life in motion

One of those night traffic shots

The long exposure makes the taillights stretch ad infinitum

Down and to the right

Red tiger striping the city street so it reads raver

This is before the riots

Ghostly in the out-of-focus high rises are rising as they're want to do

Contorting just like trees looking for sun

(Trees looking for sun)

Mostly to the left you'll notice

Piling up like nothing new the boxes for the shanties

That these buildings would become

(These buildings would become)

Toppled by the potholes here

They are before they sunk (before they sunk)

Like on hold for the glottal stops approaching with the sun

(Approaching with the sun)

The choking on the words they never said

So soon the running from the end of life that no one really figured had begun

All of these photos tucked neatly in a box

And hidden in a sock drawer or underneath the bed

Memories are demons trying to burn the edges of the present that has been fixed

So it's best to leave them dead

Don't bother with it, live lobotomy

Split a bottle better

Drink the god and leave the

Past behind for the fire

Don't, nobody want these polaroids

Don't bother with it, live the lighter side

Split a spliff together

Smoke the god and leave the

Past behind for the fire

Don't nobody want these polaroids