As Is What Was is a collection of poems created with no thought at all. None. There is no control over grammar, sound, rhythm, idea, or anything really. Why? I thought it would be fun. Is it insane? Absolutely.

 

I never painted cities

The same way that they did

I was a slow runner for the most part

And happened to prefer stopping

To peak down alleyways and into emptied cafés

And restaurants with just the two solitary figures left

And at the graffiti on unscrubbed walls

And electric cars on cobbled roads

And from time to time the older girls smoking outside of bars

And how they dealt with men with practised grace

Before saying – with their eyes – to their friends “get a load of that guy”

And I just wondered if they’d ever welcome me

Maybe they would if I told them

They looked like they’d stepped out of an Edward Hopper painting

So by the time I’d reach the party

And the others asked me

All splattered in red and beer

Why I always take my sweet time

I’ll just tell them it’s just ‘cause

It’s sweet time