Three Sided Coin

Retell the old tales

Retail’s complete hell, we need some detail

That’s why I’ve been staring at the stem of this plant

For like the last day and a half, the last day and a half, the last

Now the three sided coin buys the bow legged calf

And we’ve been sucking out the milk

From its mother’s teat incessantly

So come on, pump us full of nothingness

And hear us sing the melody

And watch us dance the thin line

Between the in thing and integrity

Vacuum-packed, shrink-wrapped, wartime spam-bots

Following the stories of the day

In a hands-off, dandruff-in-your-sandwich kind of way

Infinite distraction

Now the distance between objects

Can be measured out in fractions

But the distance between people

Is a scale that we can’t balance

We’re frail, our hearts haven’t had time to try fathom

The scales of old dragons are nails in gold coffins

This island of England

Oh, England

We set out from this place

For murder and murder

And then we squared it away like it did not occur

Now when people are lost, they need people to join

But beware of the three-sided coin

And when people are hurt, they need people to blame

But beware of the fear you can't name

I take the bins out, it’s raining

The kids are on the pavement with their hoods up

Waiting for buses

And on the radio, someone’s complaining

Saying until now, they never discussed it in public

Same thing as yesterday

Careful with the hot tap, cold to burning in a second

Clothes on, stare in the mirror

Aware of the process of life slipping out of the eyes

Deodorize

Mentholated paste on the bristles

Scrub the enamel, now shoelace

Hands like somebody else’s

Where are the hands from before?

I was 10 years old once

Life got quiet last night

Station platform

Coffee from the man in the hut with the stutter

I see a friend from school, but we ignore one another

I flick through the papers instead

Aching legs, pounding head

I can’t wait for the weekend

I’m staying in bed

In the mouth of a breaking wave

In the mouth of a breaking storm

Shaken, thinking something is coming

The sky’s an unusual colour

The weather is doing unusual things

And our leaders aren’t even pretending not to be demons

So where is the good heart to go but inwards?

Why not lock all the doors and bolt all the windows?

All I am are my doubts and suspicions

I against you against we against them

This is how it begins

And this is how it will end