In the words of Mike Allen, “makes our notoriously offbeat Clockwork Phoenix seem like a product of the straight and narrow.” How can you possibly resist? Now available to buy on Amazon UK. Buy it, write a review, say you love us only.
five
At five ayem, all you can hear is the sound of the river rushing below your window, and the gurgle and spit of the coffee machine. You still have the night, and all its velvet mystery. The day hasn’t yet started; you are there to call down the moon and raise up the sun.
Peaceful. Your neighbours are sleeping. Not one door slams, not one voice is raised. You even feel kindly towards them, at this hour. They’re so sweet, when they’re sleeping. They don’t bother you at all.
You’re someone different at five in the morning. Someone meaningful, purposeful. Because only those who suffer from meaning and purpose force themselves to wake at that hour. Nothing is beyond you then. You can do anything at all. What you do, naturally, is write. It should be no easier or harder than at any other hour, but the muse looks kindly on those who come early to work. She likes to see you there every day, washed and dressed and properly humble.
You learn. It’s a glamourous hour.
Lunar Maria
Not seas, but dark basaltic plains,
No tides but the pulling down of light,
And all misnamed, fanciful poetry
Storying the romance of the night.
Lunar Maria, false seas deceiving men.
Waterless, dry creeks and dusty rilles.
Not, after all, the swells and deeps of women;
Not, in fact, a goddess hidden in the hills.
Send rockets then, and men to mine
The rocks, and organise the sand;
To colonise the goddess moon,
Shove flags into her silver hand.