Deliquescent Bodies (Love Parade) I hope for night; it comes; it is here; it comes with rain & river, & the lights are electric. I am offered a drink & the mercury blue neon over the door catches my eye, tears open the retina, imbuing the optic nerve with cold cathode gas, ionising my nervous system to the limit. Breathing carbon dioxide, I metabolize my own body. I am a pillar of ether by the exit door. But I’m not alone. We all matter less than we did before,

# LanguageSpeaks ! A man carrying a voice recorder pauses at the door, enters. He looks a lot like Kafka but has the eyes of Tennyson. He possesses a picture of Saturn, and you don’t. It is green. If you like you can say the same. You can’t blame me for this. I am merely the host. The party has just begun. Enjoy yourself. He should have brought wine instead. Some people like voice recorders, some don’t. It’s not an issue. ‘Turn it down,’ he shouts. ‘I can’t

Down Stairs, Out There Down stairs, out there, street-level salesmen finger doorknobs, suck pens Spiralling down the stairs the hallway the reception visitors gossip lounge familiar grins, sipping, or street-level salesmen fingering your doorknob, sucking pens.

Night Sketches Over Lytham St Annes, Liverpool and Leeds, Manchester too, there's a full moon in white light suspended and all tonight’s stars are out, wannabe stars on dirty side-streets in designer gear, in dirty black cabs on dirty black roads. Drive too fast brother and you don’t see a cat’s green eyes rub past the dustbins; or a fox ethereal in light electric, sniffing a chicken bone. High on pleasure of the sensuous kind, they go on, each

Observations of Mountjoy Scott, the Earl of Ardenforde Lord Ardenforde opens a jewellery box to reveal a platinum brooch, rhodium watch, immortal diamond choker; and on the quiltwork, a tiger-eye necklace pendant. Exclamations clamour as seven yellow balloons ascend to the Taj Mahal painting that hangs from the ceiling beams. Soap-skinned Valentine looks on astonished, an obsequious grin dripping from his amazing hollow face. Plush telephones purr politely. Butler tuts at dis