on the long days in oceania
when i have run out of words
i send you down to the shops to buy me some
get half a pound of mixed adjectives i say
but no adverbs…theyre cheaper up the junction
while i’m waiting
i take drugs
i write some songs
i touch up a few portraits
i choreograph the sculptures
i parse the colours on my i-life
i switch on summer from a slot-machine
(i shoulda put the Cat out)
i loll in my hammock as the south seas winds blow
someone gently strummin’ a uke
plunka plunka plunka plunka plunka in the afternoon
grant comes over to my beach shack
totin’ his maton guitar
and the inevitable bottle of red
dont let me smoke any of this …grant says
taking a huge puff on my spliff
dont let me drink any of this ..i say
taking a huge gulp on his bottle
bloody pot gets me all stoned ..he says
(like i’m forcing him to do it)
after we are both pleasantly refreshed
grant starts to tune up his guitar and talk
so steven how have you been filling the long hours here?
well grantley i wrote a couple of songs just this morning…..
grant laughs
yeah …i bet their real beauties too…
actually, grant, scarlets just gone down the shops
to get me some new adjectives…..i say
grant rolls his eyes
oh…i just got some…
really?
grant lights up a stuyvo
has to be stuyvo soft pack
dont give grant a stuyvo hard pack cig…he’ll know
as he inhales he closes his eyes and winces a little
and then he blows it all out upward n away
in some schoolboy smoking gesture he has never seemed to’ve outgrown
he chucks down the vino from the bottle reluctantly
(havent you got a clean glass…?!)
everything about grant is a soft kind ironic fussiness
he talks quietly but he laughs heartily
i love to bignote myself to him
and oh how he loves to laugh
fuck em grantley…i’ll show em..the kids ‘ll love my new songs
grant almost chokes on his cigarette in merriment
yes steven…oh ha ha ha ha..i’m sure they will…
the fucking critics grant…they cant understand me…i’m too good
grants rolled up in a ball laughing
who could understand you steven.. ha ha ..except me
you wont fucken laugh grant when i got my own tv show
no….no one will… he says
presently scarlet kilbey returns with the adjectives
sorry dad she says
what are you sorry for sweetheart ? says grant
i dont think dads gonna want any of these…..
i poke thru them
too latinate
maybe this one
oh no…too cliched
hmmm….too ordinary
this one…….too florid
this one….too obvious
this ones good….oh i already used it
this one….nah! too obscure even for me
grant starts to strum out a tune
he’s got a capo on the fourth fret
and he’s picking the guitar slowly
“i cant believe (he sang)
i cant believe that you left me on new years eve
i was taking you to the dance
now my tears just water the plants….”
scarlet says i like it!
grant continues
but the song has gone all minor-y
and sad
“i cant believe i never saw
how you loved me less
as i loved you more
and i cant believe
that you dont know
that i want you back
and i miss you so…”
gee thats pretty sad there grantley …i find i’m saying
you really think so says grant
warming up to it now
you really think its sad..?
i do says scarlet kilbey
shes 5 foot 10 inches tall
she has wild hair that looks like a dryads
she has the deepest blue eyes
like looking at a summer sky
dad what should i do with these adjectives ?she says
ah …i dunno….stick em inna cupboard i s’pose… i say
its beginning to rain
grants off strumming again
he’s changed the capo up two frets
and hes picking out this countryish thing with a D shape
he starts singing
his beautiful voice up close is always a treat
“the rain is falling down on my true loves town
where the clouds roll down upon the brown river
everything i have i give her
everything she does
makes me love her”
did you write that, grant …i ask
most of it…he winked at scarlet
most of it…
public domain?
traditional arrangement…
oh the old trad arr….?
send royalties to g w mc then….
immediately!
we all have a laugh
gee oceania is beautiful this time of year ..i say
a little warm though perhaps steven says grant
dabbing at his forehead with a little hanky
god hes got a bloody hanky…i exclaim
its alright steven…he says…
i know you old people like their warm climes…!
we all have another good laugh
grant produces another bottle
he lights another ciggie with the same malarkey as previous
he takes the capo off the guitar altogether
and begins to strum strum strum
the soft rain keeps falling
and grant strums between 2 simple chords
but with subtle differences each time
a melody seemed to imply itself somewhere in the chords
grant looked at us and smiled
then he looked off at some point miles away
and some deep sadness informed his song
he began eventually to sing
” i remember you from a dream
walking beside me
we were a team….”
he choked up a little
oh grant …scarlet says
he continued
“i remember the way your smile curled
around words like
i give you my world
and i dont think
that i’ll find you in this place…”
jesus thats another sad one too… i said
grant seemed well satisfied with himself
he put his guitar down and uncrossed his legs
he looked at scarlet
hey listen to this he said
“you move around on your island
your baby blues shine like diamonds”
i nodded my head
thats very nice
i said