James Wilkes

 

Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomena

 

#1

ok so it’s something like

asses for assam
fun run for funding

or

ants for antoine
friends for friendship

think of the military

tealeaf smokers
clagging the mouth
dusty powder

with altitude sickness

look at the stars

and was it –

getting all weepy
and low
was it?

 

#2

pins are…in!

pigs are…in!
laughter is the best
if you’re not being laughed at

then it goes

dumbo’s venture
dumbo’s big adventure
very well dressed and manifestly fit

no not pins it’s more

pink salami
pincer movement
or even peas
it’s possible
under the bed
but more masculine
than that

 

#3

it goes

aye doe… aye doe

aye doe cash advance

france wither maybe namur

no. start again.

you got sam’s eyebrows
browse in a safety net, or

you damn warner bros

brush up your bentley no more

well anyway it’s something about

losing all my limbs
and it’s negative affect
negative affect



#4

Her USP

an umbilical girl
the kind of girl gets
special deliveries
by private courier
in a brown van

that’s her world

all ‘upton country park’ mate
peacocks and deer
that’s the ambience not
the mechanics and dockers of
the old clinic

 

 

#5

it’s /n/

it’s /n/
it’s numerous, a number of, of
Rhenish ballads gone bad, like
a nightly mind…reading tool
a rubberised cloud or
something like an airline?

it’s /n/ and /n/, it’s a noise anointed

a rebel tune
goodbye

 

 

#6

it’s got his spry tone

kind of dry and low
like a deccan lion
high, low then stays low

it’s got a wry sound
maybe bright sound
like a mecca bingo
bright down-town sound

it zips me my bones
labile overcoat
spike and groove shiver
smooth ground globe shot



#7

it was a /r/
it was a /r/
it was a roastbeef butty
a rustbelt
some kind of berry
a fruit sorbet
kind of pink fruit
on her head
a rose
buried beneath
a king
the kindness you find
in a strange land