Words from the archives #7 Kingpin (2009, audio)

In that one small moment

I became king

The feeling as the ball rolled from my hand,

Arrowing straight down the centre of the lane,

Maintaining a position of perfection,

As it travelled at the speed of delight,

Equal distance between the two gully’s,

Was like, walking out of my house to the bustop,

And without breaking step,

The bus pull's up,

And I casually jump on,

All in front of the prettist girl in the school.

My own projectile missile,

Target locked on.

And Upon Impact,

Producing the harmonic sound of that organised crescendo of chaos,

As the ball struck the centre pin.

The catalyst for the chain reaction,

Collapsing all 10 pins.

Obliterated

Nothing left,

Only the vegas like synthetic strip lighting highlighting my glory,

As if all the balls on the other lanes,

Were bowled at once and syncronised like a 21 gun salute.

X marked the screen.

I'd long ago accepted my position in all this,

My rank being verbal punch-bag,

In the great mis-order of things.

I'm the one you wonna' play pool against,

after you've just taken a whipping.

I'm the one you wonna push around after you've just taken a kicking.

I'm the one you wonna take the piss out of when you're trying to chat up women.

I'm the one you wonna talk too, when you're confidence has gone missing.

My social scene is like a fruit machine

My mates are like the cherries,

Always in pairs.

I'm the lemon,

Solitary and sour.

I turned back round,

And saw my 3 friends,

And their girlfreinds,

With their mouths open wide,

As if they were about to engage in speech,

But nothing was coming out,

Just particles of stake breath.

I never knew silence could make a sound so beautiful