madswirl : poetry of Bradford Middleton

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LAWRENCE ON THE STREET WITH DESTRUCTION ON HIS MIND

Picture yourself sitting indoors with the TV blaring
Whilst outside all around is carnage everywhere
The rioters loot from the shop downstairs and
You worry that your flat is going to go up in flames
Just how you’ve seen on the television screen

Lawrence is on the street with destruction in his mind
So far he’s got a facebook page dedicated to him
Despite the fact that no one knew it was him who
Millions saw trying to rip a plasma TV off in a betting shop

You’re sat in yr flat watching the TV news
Thinking this isn’t how the revolution should be
Gill-Scott would be turning in his grave
This was not how he pictured the revolution
To be, it was not about a consumerist binge

Lawrence is on the street with destruction in his mind
So far he’s got a Facebook page dedicated to him
And a burgeoning celebrity career once all this is done
Burn down this, steal that, this is his revolution

What we have to ask is what revolution is for?
The bettering of a single life or an improvement for all
We downtrodden masses don’t want plasma screen TV’s
We just want a fair system that won’t hold us back
From doing what it is that we truly want to do

- Bradford Middleton

(featured in the poetry forum 04.07.12)

editor's note: Discerning the thug from the true revolutionary? If it's your TV that's stolen, Lawrence is a thug! - mh

RENTED ROOMS

I go home and I’m all alone
No one to greet me or tell me that they love me
My entire adult life has been like this
I spent all that time flitting from one room to another
And evidently they are all the same
Rented rooms

Acrid surfaces that haven’t been cleaned
Dirty carpets that are plain obscene
A lousy bed that I can’t get out of
An overloaded ashtray that says I haven’t got long
No space to feel at home
In rented rooms

Rented rooms are all the same
Whether you’re in New York, Frisco or even London town
They all seem designed for that lonely insecure man
Who has been driven slowly insane by the idea that he will never escape
A life in rented rooms

- Bradford Middleton

(featured in the poetry forum 02.02.12)

editor's note: I think my body is mine, owned outright; but one day the landlord will evict. Might as well let the ashtrays overflow. - mh

Beast

I am the beast in the bar
The beast who drinks anything and everything
The beast who sits devouring whatever it is that comes my way
The beast inside takes control the more I drink for
I am the beast in the bar
The beast who repels women with my je ne sais quoi
I am the beast who simply can’t say no to a drink or the chance to get high
The beast that drinks just to get drunk
I am the beast who prowls the bar looking for cast-off drink and cast-off women for
I am the beast

- Bradford Middleton

(featured in the poetry forum 12.12.11)

editor's note: Stimulation of this alcohol economy by wholesale consumption of the drops and the dregs is just, I don't know what, "Beastly." Drink with dignity! - mh

Untouched by Madness

Driven to the edge of insanity
Twenty years is too long to be doing this shit
I’m at the brink cos of all the drink and drug
There’s no way back from here
Just darkness and madness

I pity those I’m leaving behind
Those untouched by madness must get awfully bored
Can you think of a more depressing life
Than one without the magical twins of drink and drug
Just lightness and mundanity

- Bradford Middleton

(featured in the poetry forum 05.10.11)

editor's note: Sanity is under-appreciated without madness to provide stark contrast. The mad provide a public service for the sane - should be funded by our governments. - mh

A bit about Bradford: Bradford Middleton is a 40-year old writer who currently lives in Brighton after coming of age in London and then being somewhat transient for a while during which he lived in both Surrey and Staffordshire. He has been writing poetry for many years, in fact he won a school poetry competition when he was only ten years old but it’s fair to say that since then his style has developed a uniqueness all of its own and now encompasses short stories and novellas too. He has been writing seriously since completing a postgraduate course in American Literature and now writes whenever he gets the chance or inspiration. He has also starred at a number of literary events in both London and Brighton including an avant-garde Dadaist inspired night at The Albany in Great Portland Street as well as more traditional poetry gatherings such as the Brighton Poetry Society.

He has so far been published online at the Mad Swirl’s poetry forum – Untouched by Madness and other poems posted here, Horror Trash Sleaze – two short stories called Got a Spare Dick and Nearly New Baby Sale, Deadbeats Literary Blog – Slip Through Time, and Deuce Coupe – a poem called Parasites, and has work under consideration from several journals and websites. His novella, Dive, is currently under consideration at Black Coffee Press.