Rusted Guns of Milan

For Clara

Upside down on a meat hook,
you stole my heart away;
with the petrol fumes and the cigarettes,
the baying crowd and the suffragettes.
Upside down on a meat hook,
upside down on St Catherine’s day.

Upside down on a meat hook,
upside down in a history book;
upside down in a photograph,
upside down where the red girls laugh
and the black boys weep and the devils sleep
and life is noble, life is cheap.
Upside down on a meat hook,
where the dukes and the divas play.

Upside down on a meat hook,
upside down on St Catherine’s day;
with the Knave of Clubs and the King of Hearts,
your beauty fades in fits and starts.
Upside down on a meat hook,
you stole my mind away.

I Left My Heart in Cape Town

For Denise

I lost my heart to Christiaan,
He took it with a smile,
Then passed it on to Louis,
Who kept it for a while.
I lost my mind in Cape Town,
Whilst laid out on the rack;
I left my heart in Cape Town
And will never get it back.

An Uncommon Courtesan

For Eliza

The face that launched a thousand ships
that made an empire strut and talk:
a thousand thousand busy lips,
a surgeon's girl from County Cork.

The face that launched a thousand songs
of lands of honey, lands of milk:
a thousand thousand righting wrongs,
a surgeon's daughter dressed in silk.

The face that launched a thousand guns
of iron worthier than gold:
a thousand thousand screaming sons,
a surgeon's daughter grown so cold.

The face that launched a thousand deaths
that kissed him at Cerro Corá:
a thousand thousand sighing breaths,
a surgeon's girl who went too far.

Sister Laudanum

For Lizzie

Sister Laudanum takes my hand,
And bides her time, and bides her time.
Sister Laudanum gives me strength,
And bides her time, and bides her time.
Sister Laudanum names her price,
And bides her time, and bides her time.
Sister Laudanum claims her prize,
Yet bides her time, still bides her time.

The world may hold me responsible
For the failings of my lover.
But the world knows nothing.
Society may sneer at me
For the failings of another.
And society may go hang.

Sister Laudanum is my rock,
Yet takes her toll, still takes her toll;
Brings comfort to her faithful flock,
She plays her predetermined rôle:
Screaming, crying, possessed and wild,
Prostrate before the still-born child.
Sister Laudanum comes to me,
And Sister Laudanum sets us free.

Schoolkaai

For Aurélie

Hold me, find me,
hold me, bind me;
I want to lose control,
I want to be your doll,
your slave, your dog, your whip-tied hog,
I want to lose control.

Hold me, still me,
hold me, thrill me;
I want to lose control,
let madness take its toll,
till all is just beauty and lust,
I long to lose control.

Hold me, kiss me,
hold me, miss me;
I want to lose control,
surrender up my soul
and subjugate me to your fate,
I need to lose control.