do you remember when you you were young and
 you walked into her room it was morning
 it always smelled like gasoline and disinfectant so 
sweet and sharp and stinging and sour sour
 sour so that you couldn’t tell you always trembled back then you were so worried no confidence in
 your cooking you couldn’t smell it couldn’t tel
l if it was good and you were only barely clean
enough of dirt for her not to notice but this 
time you made pancakes with gooseberry jam and 
the tang made your ears wiggle and your step was bouncin
g you were so confident and sure this time
 but you came in and everything was wrong she was slick with s

[right]metal rends and tears itself in half and when it do
es it screams like a maiden giving up 
her virginity
 to a soldier she does not love yes that piercing hollow shriek
 that is the precursor to another dozen tears just like it let them fill you up and burst 
back out of your mouth and die out into dull ringing ah your poor ears
 must feel so overwhelmed focus smaller please so you can hear 
the splatter-drip of blood and coolant pattering against the hard floor 
the vent is hissing steam of some kind the pressure in this room is something you can almost f
eel isn’t it this really seems like an emergency there 
should be more sirens ah yes there they go my darlings 
listen to them blare the word for this not that you’re smart
enough to know it is klaxons
and they howl like hunting wolves first there is the
 rising pitch and hold until vibrato just until a body can bare
ly stand the wailing and then suddenly it dips again and
fades into a memory but it’s a wave and[/right]

[center]the forest is vast and alive and all around you there’s
a word for this 
the word is verdant 
the forest is so filled with life do you see it do you see it
 let us count the leaves together there is 
one and two and thirty seven thousand six hundred and fifty three and the 
bark is smooth like rubber but that doesn’t stop the an
ts from crawling up it do you see do you see their bulbous
 heads hold mandibles fit for war they could be a phalanx no they
are a phalanx their twisting legs are carrying them to war 
but what are you on about this is your ship isn’t it 
your ship could never be a forest but you know all 
about gardens don’t you this is a garden I have made it
 a garden look at how beautiful and precise my bonsai are not a single twig or
 leaf out of its destined place do you see your
mice are trembling do you see they’re soil[/center]

[right]like a wave it surges again 
with the sound of a tide pushing 
and pulling and 
subsiding and 
emerging 
just as loud and shrill as you can stand and oh by the way 
there’s shouting all around you but it all seemed 
so hard to pick up on since it’s all so small and human but let’s listen why
 not let’s really listen to what they have to say this one 
says “fuck you” and that one goes “you’ll never get away with this” and over hear this 
quivering little number whimpers “b-b-but you promised! 
you said we were in compliance!” and this one over here i
s asking you what you did to Birmingham and do you see they’re blaming 
you these are the sounds of a people blaming you
 for all their problems which to be very fair you caused and it’s 
all so very human of them isn’t it but now bend your 
little kitty ears and listen closely you do not want to miss this 
there it is[/right]

[center]for my garden do y
ou see the light is bright 
here and everywhere is thorns and wings
 and dust it’s hard to see through isn’t it 
I’m so sorry
 let me add more here’s some glinting armor
 no duller now duller pit it all with rust time
will conquer everything you love ah you have an aus
pex do you wonderful love then let’s look a little bigger
 here are the pores in the plastics of your ship 
do you see how they are not smooth at all don’t 
be deceived by your stupid little fingertips these ridge
 layers are what swallow all that 
sound now go past them here is the main support 
it weighs three tonnes and cost more than your life is worth to build
 there are eighty three thousand secondary beams
 crossing through it look don’t they seem so much like
spider webs you know another thing that’s con[/center]

weat and lying there in bed with no energy 
poor thing 
her musk reminded you of clay and alkaline and flowers 
but she carried the sickness smell 
so rank like death 
was she dying  you brought her the wrong food you idiot 
she needed more liquids and you panic
ked and squeaked and she said your name she 
said it like butterfly wings she said it and 
you came to her you said you were sorry 
you would go and make something else but she grabbed you 
and the pancakes fell and the jam mixed with
 everything she pulled you so close there was no choice
no choice no choice at all she was delirious 
couldn’t tell what she was doing never gonna 
remember so you had no choice you