blackmail press 40
Mark Pirie
first published issue 20



The fecund people - Andy Leleisi'uao 2014
index
Link: http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/piriemark.html
Pavement gig, Victoria University, 1993


Tall Dwarfs sing like short giants
Their lyrics speak, their songs fight like
Day and night. Their artful sounds
Control our ears and look for fresh disciples.
Then, as drinks resume, 3-dimensional gods
Jump and crash to the crowd’s delight,
Enticing new journeys for those
Tossed backwards and forwards.

Minutes become frozen through the course
Of the show and some are susceptible to the night’s
Passage where sex becomes another
Way to use the stage’s uneven flow.
Copulating under the wooden floor
The lovers soon crawl back
And disengage from the crowd’s belly.

Students are alive in the bar’s fun,
A man spews like a punctured dinghy
Behind speakers of foreign tongue.
A good time becomes the measure of life
Amidst the raucous glee. Finally the crew
Of Pavement comes ashore, causing
Beachhead as stage jumpers bail out
Into a sea of sweating bodies

Where stuck together I find my frame
Resting on hair that counts the beat
Soaking up the reservoir of beer
Which creates my slippery feet.
Grabbing on, looking for direction
We thrash our longhair. As the hour of
Madness moves quick, necks gyrate
Like a machine and drinkers lurking
Outside offer their jovial gleam.