Now unavailable on Instaflam:
https://www.instagram.com/johntottenham/
… Put it out there and watch nothing happen.
Soar Into a Rosy Zone of Contemplation
Golden Waters
Instead of doing my own work,
I took a long hard look
at somebody else’s work,
in the hope of being pleasantly relieved
by how bad it was.
But, much as I tried to deny it,
it was undeniably good.
And it pours out of him
like a gusher from a golden fountain
that never stops flowing.
Compared to this strained trickle
from a blocked and rusty faucet.
I take consolation
in how much it has cost me,
as if that might somehow redeem it.
Which, of course, it doesn’t.
But I don’t have much else
to take consolation in.
Morbidly Wistful Melancholy
On Raymond Pettibon http://artillerymag.com/tottenham-corner-raymond-pettibon/
Zouch review
“Extending Larkin-esque British miserablism
to new comic depths”
http://zouchmagazine.com/poetry-review-four-two/
The Indifferent Sublime
Immerse yourself in sorrow, rake over pain.
Let the novelty of feeling something
wash through you in purifying waves
again and again. But kindness is unnerving,
tenderness hurts, and empathy
can be an excruciating form of martyrdom.
At the end of the day – when all is unsaid
and undone – you’re better off numb.
Let me grace you with my absence…
Let me Ruin your Night
All Down the Line
Woodshedding
Grooming myself for a career in failure,
I studied with masters.
Then I realized: they were successful.
For how would they otherwise be known?
There is a difference between the failures
of the successful and the failure of true failures.
A matter of sliding scale:
The failures of the successful are celebrated,
broadcast far and wide;
while the failures of failures are obscure,
buried with them when they die.