Please remember I’ve moved

I’m here now – it’s a better look and a better read.

Orbital

I’m reading Please Don’t Come Back From The Moon by Dean Bakopoulos.

The first chapter made me play Belfast by Orbital but this is a better video – Lush

Hit the lights, please

Well I’ve made the switch. I’d be delighted if you’d join me. The link is here or the address is http://www.thatboyiusedtoknow.blogspot.com.

I’ll still post here I think but the real action will be on my new site.

Without sounding too desperate, please visit me.

A big decision

I think I’ve decided to switch to Blogger. It’s giving me more options with font and layout than WordPress. I have set up an account and will give the address to you when I have posted something. I hope to see you there…

El Camino Abajo

Before I lost my Jean Sprackland book Tilt I translated one of the poems into Spanish for a friend. I don’t speak much Spanish and had some help. The poem is called The Way Down and I like it a lot. In Spanish I think it sounds good too. I worked hard on this. Here it is:

El Camino Abajo

Olvidar el camino.
Cortar a travès de los tojo y endrino
y caminar en el arroyo.

El asunto es acerca de un arroyo
se sabe dònde se va, tiene un talento
para encontrar la ruta màs corta.

Un camino puede perder su control,
agotarse en las pantano o helecho, partir
inescrutablemente en dos. He pemanecido en ese lugar

y sopesado las opciones, sopesado
y comprobado de nuevo cuando
lentas neblinas sobre las montañas como sueño.

Cuando el arroyo divide
los dos riachuelos estan igualmente firme.
Cada uno juega su propio juego – la mancha de musgo,

la repentina carrera sobre umbral de peñon -
y cada uno, si lo permites,
te llevarà hacia abajo.

I am not afraid

I’ve just been reading some news.

It says the stock markets are fucked because of fears of the US debt crisis.

The stock market is always fucked when people fear things.

I am not afraid of anything. I believe this would be an asset in a large multinational organisation looking for fearless stock marketeers.

I will give you my lack of fear if you pay me.

I will write the amount of money I believe my lack of fear is worth on a piece of paper and post it to you. If you are brave enough you can open the envelope.

The size of this payment may make you more afraid. This could cause your shares to drop.

I believe this is how the stock market works. You can leave an address in my comments.

There are terrorists here in Barcelona. There is also an election some time soon. These two may be related. The terrorists may want to explode things. The Government may want to show the public they can stop terrorists exploding things.

When the police arrest terrorists the Government gets 10 news points per terrorist. The terrorists get no news points.

When the police let terrorists go without charge the terrorists get 2 news points per terrorist. The Government gets 1 news point for reference to previous arrests.

There were fourteen arrests in Barcelona. The Government is currently winning 140 – 0

This Is England

I saw This Is England tonight. You should see it if you haven’t. It’s a sweet and sinister film. Life is sweet and sinister. It is also a very big and very small film. Life is big and small. And it is timeless and smack in the summer of 1982. Life is neither of these things. I like these contrasts.

I have the boy’s eyes in my head now.

This boy is England.

I want to change the font of this blog

It’s starting to annoy me. I’d like Arial size 8 I think. I don’t know how to do this. I don’t think it is possible. I think I might have to change blogs to do this. I will investigate. There are pros and cons.

I am going to work hard tomorrow. I have been working hard but I haven’t felt productive because my writing has been loose. This is not a bad thing. When I write I like to attack the keyboard. Keep it coming till something starts forming in the subconscious of the pages of words. Maybe a paragraph. This can be depressing. I’m aiming for a start point. I know what I am writing about. Ish. I know what I want to write about. The two are not the same at the moment. The space between them is the size of my depression. If you ask me what I am aiming for I can tell you something. I don’t have this yet. It is a feeling at the moment. I am trying to work out how to achieve this feeling on the page, as a story, as a book. I will find it. When I find it I will know what it looks like. The feeling looks like me when I was 11. I have been writing some poetry today too.

I’ve been sent a book

Matt Briggs, author of Shoot The Buffalo, has emailed me his book as a PDF. I am touched by this kindness. I feel I should give something in return. I will write more on Shoot The Buffalo when I have read it.

I went to the Bodies exhibition in Barcelona yesterday. It’s strange and fascinating and a bit grizzly. I saw embryos and fetuses, the small bones of the ear, three hearts in glass boxes, lungs with and without smoke-induced diseases, the entire nervous system uncoiled, the skin of a man lain out on a table like a suit and a small black rock called cancer. I was uncertain about the ethics of a lot of it and my friend Daniel Hong Kong said some bodies had been bought from the Chinese Government. I can neither confirm or deny this. Most disturbing was the arrangement of some of the bodies in sporting positions. One was playing darts.

The human heart only starts to beat during the fifth week.

Rubbish Haiku

This is for my friend Rachel to prove I’m not rubbish.

It is reference 1.

Rubbish Haiku

Rachel, I’m not rub-
bish. If I was rubbish I
couldn’t write this hai