by Paul Robert Mullen
ten weeks
hiding from killer
droplets
cute as microscopic rain
deadly as bullets
ten weeks curling pages away
from the sun:
Hemingway, Celiné, Duffy, Bukowski, Steinbeck
Dostoevsky, McCullers, Collins, Angelou
Tolstoy, Camus, Bellow, Fante, Orwell
Plath, Melville, Kafka, Harwood
ten weeks
spinning dusty discs:
Nick Drake, Rival Sons, Nina Simone, David Crosby, Miles Davis
Bonnie Raitt, Soft Machine, Steely Dan, Carole King
Frank Sinatra, Zero 7, Beach Boys, Donna Summer, Rage Against The Machine
Christine& The Queens, Paul Kappa, Boz Scaggs, Leon Russell
Norah Jones, Bert Jansch, Sade, Turin Brakes, Micayl, Lambchop
Liverpool Express, Rolling Stones, Lyle Lovett, Barbara Streisand, Supergrass
The Inkspots, Tangerine Dream, Scott Matthews, Rumer, Tony Bennett
London Grammar, Tom Russell, Fun Lovin’ Criminals, Traffic
Judi Collins, Four Tops, Black Sabbath, PJ Harvey, Television, Tash Sultana, Cold Chisel
ten weeks
sucking up subversive propagandist shit
from our pretenders-in-chief
ten weeks
watching wrestling re-runs:
Hogan slamming Andre
Warrior winning the title Wrestlemania VI
Savage & Miss Elizabeth reunited
Montreal screw-job
Owen Heart’s in-ring death
Mankind flying off the Hell-in-a-Cell
Undertaker’s streak
ten weeks
learning to press re-set
ten weeks
walking sunset miles
& miles & miles & miles
with a boxer dog
that’s never known it so good —
full clan in tact
to love & protect
ten weeks inside the skin
of these four walls
waiting for the bell to ring
one eye on the daily news
the other on a cracked moon going round & round
ten weeks
of late nights lost in Netflix:
American Horror Story, Tiger King, Troll Hunter, IT
Blue Velvet, Gerald’s Game, Stranger Things, Don’t Fuck With Cats
Rolling Thunder Revue, The Never Ending Story, As Above So Below, Left Behind
The Fear of 13, Ghost, What Happened Miss Simone?
Humanoids of the Deep, Prank Encounters, Rick & Morty,
The Invitation, Zoo, Jeepers Creepers
ten weeks learning to be
Paul Robert Mullen is a poet, musician, lecturer, radio presenter, traveler and sociable loner from Liverpool, U.K. He has four published poetry collections: curse this blue raincoat (2017), testimony (2018), 35 (2018) and disintegration
(2020). He has been widely published in magazines worldwide. Paul is the co-founder and editor of The Broken Spine Artist Collective.
