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Charles and Eddie (Other) by Nicholas Jones
Introduction:
His head is full of troubled thoughts
But he and I have no fears
We went into so many ports
That we never shed our tears
We lived together for six months
Sharing an unmade bed
And never once did he reveal
The demons in his head.
Twenty-four weeks of filthy sheets
And blood-stained winter coats
Twenty-four weeks of dirt and leaks
And uncrossable strategic moats
For those long weeks the walls were bare
Our inner lives too deep to share
We had no responsibilities to bear.
For that short time, we lived in sin
Before our senses kicked back in.
Charles:
I met him on a street, I guess. Or
in the launderette. Or down the pub.
Doesn?t matter.
Not a hard scene to know, we meet,
Introduced by someone that we both
Almost know. I want to say to him
?I take ordinary words to make verse?
Because he demands such confessions.
I could not say why. I want to tell
Him everything. But do not know
Anything about him. Feel that
He must be unhappy; or he would
Have better things to do than
Visit my house (which he does
the next day). He says little,
We watch some TV, I play some
Of my favourite albums. He probably
does not like them. But image is
Important to me. My curtains are
Grey. I realise this for the first time,
Afterwards. It does not bother me,
But I think about dyeing them.
The radio still playing badly
Played metal from California.
Dull euro disco, I do not know
What station. I no longer panic.
There must be an emotion in its place.
I pray to God it is not love.
Eddie:
We met on the street, fleeing from rain ?
Bad introductions from friends.
Walking along, down Primrose Lane
Turning of course at the bends.
We talked some more, he told me that
His poetry really was bad
He confessed all, and I told him that
I found it all rather sad.
Next day I went, round to his house
Grey curtains and four poster bed
He played me music so I was aroused:
?Yes? was not all that he said:
We lay on the floor, writhing around
Fucking each other like dogs
Then we slept, but not very sound
Beneath a duvet of only nine togs.
Panic re-enters, innocent eyes
Turning toward my own flesh
All my own choice, don?t wear a tie
Razor and skin start to mesh.
We met on the street, drowning in rain
He took me back to his house
We bled on the carpets to hide our pain
Feelings we needed to douse.
Panic returns, yellowing hands
Receding into the view
Venture yet forward, promising lands
Always at somewhere still new
Soon after that day, I went round again,
Back there again to his house.
We bled on carpets to hide our pain,
Feelings we needed to douse.
Charles:
It was the second visit. Second time
That he entered my house. Carried a razor
Blade around in his pocket.
Old fashioned cut throat. Wooden handle.
Opened it up. Showed me.
What the fuck for? He took off his trousers.
Scars on his legs; too many. Brought the blade
Too close to the skin. Don?t, I whispered.
A stricture, an ineffective order. He ignored me.
He cut. Not on my fucking carpet, please.
Hard stain to get out is blood. Why does he
Have to do it in front of me. Does he have
No equally fucked up friends?
What am I doing with this man?
Eddie:
We lived together for six months
Eating and sleeping and fucking
We lived alone in a single room
Where the lighbulbs never were working
Then panic returns, all that he sees
Are the dubious stains on the bed
Panic returns, I never did tell
Of the demons that live in my head.
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