The Time Being | Steve Kilbey

pack up my stuff
stack up my puff
wheezy easy over just try to please me
mad as an ‘atter
mercurial poisoning
only eat one fish from these waters per lifetime
everybody actor
everybody child
everybody pretend
myself? i feign mild…….
yoga yoga yoga
improve
slide back
get old
older still
snakes n ladders
but theres snakes on the ladders
but theres a sleep at the wheel
the strap left a weal
the knot cut into my vein
my future momentarily bulged
my past gaped
my present made your art- gro fonda
my singing up n down gods coast
my appearance in the discards
my fruitful over trick
my dummy hands
i sit dawdling wasting even more time
there goes a minute
now ya gotta minute less
i’m up north in the trops
killer gone troppo
dont comment if you dont wanna read this
dont listen if you dont wanna hear
dont be a flood or a desert
dont be fire or ice
just
be something nice
4 a change

$teve o’k

open channel
transmit info
process reality
transfer impressions to memory
i am in cairns qld up north as north
doing a show up here as guest singer
i live in unreality
wandering around the town
have a cold soup and soy berry shake
its warm here
effervescent night
air conditioners still singing in the wind
my room is deluxe n delightful
i can see the quay i guess
i can see mountains n low clouds
the pastures of the blue crane
i smoke some primo jazz number
look aint the air fulla poetry now
i set my mind on random in my lux room
overlooking the tasteful darkened pool its night now
i sit here type type type
up here on the map way up here
my mind dries up
i become suddenly enervated
my legs try to stretch away that awful ache
the floor feels cold
the colours are too bright
time to rest a little
tell you how show was tomorrow
now i have 2 hours before showtime
night night

deep in the poets imagination
the streets of corinth still bustle on warm nights
merchants pack up their stalls
some empty handed
some purses stuffed full
some now too tired to care
the air is full of ancient rocknroll
some cat layin’ down a loada soul on his lyre
the last dying chorus of a play
a bunch of senators cross the square talking earnestly
in poseidons great temple a voice murmurs a humble prayer
other voices join in in assent repeating the words
asking for fair seas and abundant fish
asking for the safe return of their ships
the fat from a calf flares in the fires
libation of wine
offering of devotion
in the temple of aphrodite
ajax white fucks a black priestess
he bites her neck as he does his thing
i dunno i mean hes paid her and everything
but he doesnt understand a word shes saying
and she says plenty
in some outlandish tongue summoning the goddess of love
to come and feed on this lust which she commends
into her hands
old venus eternally young
eternally pink and rosy and shapely and comely
with her pale nipples and her dark places
weakest yet most powerful of all
she comes hurrying away from cytherea
she comes gathering her clothes around her
she comes all around them in points of light
she comes in the milky opalescence of the ancient stars
she comes in the sudden hum in the dome
she comes in the wavering candles and dancing shadow
she comes in the movement of the lovers
she comes through the ether tho she be many leagues away
she comes down the ages wearing her one thousand and one names
she comes laughing and smiling
she comes blushing like the youngest maid
she comes uttering lewd words
she comes among men and they think they are in some heaven
ajax white lies there exhausted
fuck! he says
the priestess pours more nepenthe
and they both sip thoughtfully as night deepens around the city
fuck! he says again
as he lies back
and closes his eyes
forever

you think you dont remember but you remember
we 2 in a million
oh we died and died and died
your breath spearman fresh
your limbs oiled and coiled
your weakness on display like bait
luring out those cowards whom you lay in the dust
fragrant flames burning in your tent
tiny altar to your mother the nymph
your horses snort
your golden arc
your kissing lips
moon on your fingernails
night soothes your glowing temper
yes drown in drink
go down in your amphorae
some woman screams somewhere in the camp
you spit and you frown
glory doesnt feel so fucking glorious
your planets trine in the skies
but youre never going home
z comes to you in a dream
he is huge
he thunders in your head
he roars in your sleeping ears
he flashes before you
handsome powerful arrogant careless
one word he says
fight
fight
fight!
a startled awakening
where are we ? you ask
the sea still at our backs
the beaked ships heaved up on the beach
the star of arcturus blazes on
seabirds squabble in the darkness
men singing shouting laughing groaning
coldness of desolate dawn as eos roams the reddening vault
more wine for breakfast
you pick scabs of blood from your long blond hair
the trojan sun has rendered you dark
you appear like a god in negative
ignore the chafe of the armour
ignore the smell of deadmen and donkey piss
ignore the blisters
ignore the bruises and cuts
ignore the idiots in charge of this fiasco
ignore your old father waiting at home who’ll never see you again
ignore the auspices
ignore the omens
ignore the sybil with her writhing tongue
but
dont ignore me
today may be the day
and even as i wait for you down here
i fade away
i fade away

soft silver lanolin
i am returned unto this hour
the voyage over
the futile quest
the world which would not change
whispers a name
proceed with caution
objects appear in mirrors momentarily
athene comes to me in dream
as the morning words are gone
the sails blow slack
while line tautens in the sea
some deep monster has taken up my hook
no the giants are all storied
the virgins in sin all oiled
roll out my barrel of barbaric barbs
the men plot mutiny
i hear them in their graves ever softly prosper
those long haired boys with their fine white muscles
slayers of women
wine stagger straddle loot loop strip ram stealer lamb
the wolves in the pines
the lions down in nubia and namibia
the ships becalmed in distant triangle
i speak atlantis name in solemnity though i be drunk on sea
sea fills my lungs my halls my walls my institutes and brothels
sea in my heart in my market place sea in my laboratories
sea in my my observatories
all i see is sea
we are the ones outside and all divided
i smoke up a hags philtre
i go down to underworld on my knees on my yellow belly
i go down through the chasmic crack into sheer black
no light no nothing for your hero o you should weep
hand me my sword i scream out
my kingly voice now an echo of itself
sounding old and phlegmy in this vacuum of nothing
i stumble round trying to grasp my eel like enemies
vicious vipers gnaw gnaw gnaw
there is nothing there
i rip at my flesh where the itch is burnt
the sun beats down my sandals have fallen asunder
over exposed and underdone
the mutineers reveal themselves
armed with spears and clubs
you scurvy fucking rotten lowlife sons of bitches!
i lunge baby i lunge
my scimitar sings in the air as i leap and whoop
just like the old days baby when i was young again
but no
i am mistaken
there is no enemy
there is no scenery
there is no snow and no greenery
my ship is wrecked
the sharks even recoil in horror
my anchor wrapped around gibraltar
crew carousing in the bars along the styx
a whole in the net the minnow tore
doomed to remember too late
goddamn surgeon stitched me up
here drink this he said handing me wine
i howled as the needle flooded my head
ajax white must have got it wrong
the hyperborean stuff jetstreaming into aetherea
steady as she goes i bellowed through the storm
there was no storm
the ship danced across a glittering sea of tiny scales
our holds groaned with plundered booty
the cream of olympus gushes in thy soup
as captain as hero i remained aloof
the men crazed on mermaid
i studied the stars that rushed through the skies
i conquered my urges by indulging my selves
weary finally
ashore washed up
i lay in tidal pools with all my gold
unspent
nothing seems to keep me awake
night hovers above as if awaiting instruction
the bed room is darkening warm
along the briefest corridor
a door opens into a roof
in the silence a hand touches your face
you never know who it is
you never know who it is

madness futility
no utility
in the margin
chargin’ up my i-god
the chemistry which takes me to heaven
rebounds me to hell o i’m back again
reborn as this dragonfly-man
cast from some operetta
unbound prometheus
time carves me into this shape
the random currents of flux
ready to let go
come and take it
spirit come and take me now
my eyes hurt in the cold electric light
reality has set in it has congealed
the room is warm
i glow dull red
my sins screaming after me
they demand my anxiety
i cough up my brains
i visit the houses of the dead mornings
no you dont wanna be me
no you dont wanna be you
no you cannae do what ya like
but no you never do what you must do
i give up
i surrender
things are going well
money comes in
money goes out
figures move on a screen
i withdraw n i lose interest
i divide the indivisible
in this red lit room surrounded by my junk
my dirty washing
my dirty magic
i am many men
and capable of many more
i fascinate myself as a reptile fascinates a mouse
with repulsion i recoil as see myself go by
my voice oozes from some empty factory
where mindless auto-mons construct random phrases
my youth has fled n run off with my old face
wreck less with a band on
fuck charlie can slap you about
i look like a lobster in my movies
none of you can imagine
ooh my eyes hurt and ache
the world becoming dimmer
the sound blurs into a roar or a silent ring
people return to the moon
the first world war has been averted
the meek shall inherit the earth
the strong shall inherit the meek AND the earth
steve kilbey shall inherit a new body and name
but my will to create will endure forever
iao iao ao ao io io
lo and beholder and beauty in yer fucken eye
the great god pan is dead
the people from the oldest times
from fair atlantis
from teaming lemuria
from fragile lyonesse
from greeces golden flowering summer of love and war
the hindu goddess unleashes kundalini
you know who i mean
all of us in it together
all from a single flash we come
all from a single point
all from the glow of gods heart
look let all the people from the olden times remember
we will all live again
again
it is promised
blessing or curse
oh i want something so bad
something no one can afford
no service
no connection
no availability
read my column
dig my garden
feed my machine
i am the time being
one of the very best
one of the very worsted
rarely medium

written by grant mc
music co produced with rpk and mh

back home
thank you
safe flight
obviously
left pondering
many things
many moments
many songs
saw the sights
took the trip
sunny san diego to rainy virginia
saw the skrapers and the trailers
saw the lovely audience
saw the sun come up when i couldnae sleep
saw the moon go down tho i couldnt stay awake
i shook peoples hands
i cuddled the wives and kids
i talked but my eyes were always elsewhere
the next town
the next life
i couldnt grab on to it
i’m moving too fast now
i cant slow down ever again it seems
life doth truly speed up
all my songs are coming true
my daughters have all grown
my wife is still beautiful
my rented little house sits here in its street
the tour is a memory
already i think of something else
i say goodbye to pete at airport
he hadda fly on to qld
we travel together but we dont say that much
when you known a geeza going on 40 years
you dont have to say much
petes pretty self satisfied
he reads listens to music
occasional wry observation
weather here a deliriously beautiful day
about 20 degrees c
anyway
more revelations as they come to hand
now some yoga
i guess
sk