Previously byBenjamin Saphiro

The Regressive Years

Reductionism

'REDUCTS'

STUFFPoetry for the Busy Mind

Foreword.

This book was never planned. As far as i was concerned, I had written all the Reductionist poems (without purposeful repetition) by the end of 'REDUCTS'. Any poem penned after that period, in my mind, would no longer be considered 'Reductionism'. Though in my humble opinion, Art is often emotionally driven and unpredictable, thus another Reductionist anthology forged its existence.

The poems contained, unlike the former books (which started out as lengthy tradition and were later edited down) required little crafting into the 'reduced' form. For this very reason i thought these poems are worth sharing. I believe 'Not another book of Reductionist Poetry' captures an unconscious 'naive innocence' that had possibly been sculpted away in previous books.

Benjamin Saphiro

Table of contents

It's just art lOWisdom, Stolen llMusic# l2White boy shouts nigger l3Cockney observation l4Sceptic l5How much is that doggy? l6Kashmir l7A love in progress l8Green l9Living in the past 2oWalt Disney 2lThe fight 22 Coffeshop trite 23 Ageing demin 24Travel writing 25Legend 26

Travelling 27 Difference between men and boys 28 The moaning Lisa 29The history of music 30Live for today 31 Rugby match 32Three sisters 33Self portrait 2 34Regret 35Nomadic Ex-pat 36Every artist is a cliché 37Hong Kong 38The importance of War 39 Fast-food love 40Politician 41The West 42Crying 43Jeckyl and Hyde 44Book, unread 45Blurring bounderies 46The beauty of sport 47New monarch, journalist 48Nietsche’s sword 49

In the gym 50They say love is dead 51Broken heart, Eastern 52 Great actors 53Revenge of the Nerds 54 Single life 55Lightbulb 56 The nervous smoker 57 The poetry of film 58Friendship 59Let us not forget 60Old neighbourhood 61On the Fence 62Sand dunes in desert 63Copy of original painting, painted 64Megalomaniac 65A beautiful Title 66Understanding Poetry 67Tennis coach 68When China Rule the World 69Dream dangling 70Beethoven’s fifth 71Mars men, venus girls 72(The) Five rings of sport 73

Reductionism 74Dictionary 75The great scam 76The empty book 77The great joke 78Ghosts. 79The great joke (revised) 80 The Communist paradox 81Along the Thames 82Joke 83Heaven must be a lonely place 84Infinity 85No regrets 86 Our books electric 87The Measure of a man 88Past prime in electric jungle 89Fall of the British Empire 90The Fall of the West 91Black clouds(beeping silently) 92Clown 93Relationship flawed 94 Girl cried wolf 95

love is... for now 96 Protective helmet 97Leopard 98 Fucking flag on vagina 99The beautiful game's facelift 100 Mobile serenade 101Amazon Publishing 102South African democracy 103 Doubleudoubleudoubleu 104Bedtime story 105Jumping to conclusions 106Fisherman’s joke, stoned 107Movies ain’t what they used to be 108The hole truth 109The write way to wear a T-shirt 110All sport is… 111Heroes, really? 112Fuck punctuation 113Smile, embarrassed* 114Will you miss me? 115Dam. Slam. 116Lifestyle list 117Leaves rustling in the autumn wind 118Solitude’s ironic paradox 119Ode to every beginning 120The great joke 121Poetry for the people 122

Benjamin Saphiro

Not another book of Reductionist Poetry

It’s just art

It is,What it is.

Wisdom, stolen

Only the shallowDon't judge things

By appearances.

Benjamin Saphiro

Music #

Music is the glueOf life.

White boy shouts nigger

Language used,By one group onlyPerpetuates,The racist notion.

Cockney observation

“Give ‘em a uniform,And they get a right face on ‘em.”

Sceptic

Sceptics were onceBelievers,

Who gave up on their dreams.

How much is that doggy?

…in the window?

All Art,Is for sale.

Kashmir

God has painted everythingIn watercolour.

A love in progress

Find the right Balance, and floatIn love’s mystery together

And in the Winds, swayGently.

Green

Green

The color of the dolla

Living in the past

The past, Mattered only

Yesterday.

Walt Disney

An honest man,Giving hope

Dreams.

Tainted By sceptics

With fascism

The fight

T’is not the winning Or losingThat matters,

For you may lainBruised and battered –Swollen eye and blood-stainedSplattered,Shaking, heavy, nervously

Accepting the fightIs victory.

Coffeeshop trite

Applemac And Venti geez,Change the Fucking record,Please.

Ageing demin

Jeans once wornAnd ripped at knees,

‘come thinning bald spot at the seat.

Travel writing

The travel writer,Uses, abuses

Cultures

For petty narcissism.

Legend

There is only One legend.

The legend That dies for their Art

Travelling

Helps you understandPeople, tolerateDifferences.

The difference between men and boys

A man cleans upAfter himself.

The moaning Lisa

Precipitating crowdsManifesting,

Are as much The Art

As the dead portrait.

Benjamin Saphiro

The history of music

Footprints ofA perfect path.

Live for today

Yesterday is historyTomorrow never comes.

Rugby match

Winning and losing, StatisticsFor armchairs and anoraks

The match was the real victory

Men looked each other In the eye,Stood their ground

“Lets fight.”

My three sisters

Are my Blood, Heart,& Soul.

Self portrait 2

Christian persuasion With Buddism bought

and paid for.

Regret

With benefit of Hindsight,

I wish I had done more.

Nomadic Ex-pat

High-classPikeys.

Every artist is a cliché

Every artistIs a cliché.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong was once T h e G r e a t e s t city.

T'was Paris of the East.

The importance of War

Buying, selling Making stuff,

Teaching grammar, writing Books,

Science, art, atoms &Time

Insignif’cant,When on frontline.

Fast-food love

Speed dating.Is that Really

What the worldHas come to?

Politician

Businessman,Who run a country.

The West

The WestIs more CommunistThan the East.

Crying

Crying,Intoxicated

Does not count.

Jeckyl and Hyde

Such poetic Description,Schizophrenia’s transmutation,

From caterpillar To petal’d wings.

Book, unread

Is an Ironic Paperweight.

Blurring bounderies

A Great artistIsn’t A great person,By default.

The beauty of sport

Sit back, relax,Enjoy the poetry Of the humanBody.

New Monarch, journalist

“My sentence you to death.”

Nietsche’s sword

There is no Truth,Only interpretation.

In the gym

On electric conveyer belt

Man stands,Stationary

Spending more time,Deciding channel to watch,Than running.

They say love is dead

Every Saturday,We smoke weedTake taxi To Ramen noodle bar.Eat, laugh. and

On footHead backBuying quart of whiskeyMix with cola,DrinkAs we walk homeArm in arm.

Broken heart, Eastern

The same Song,Only different Language.

Great method actors

Are vessels,empty

Flawed.

Revenge of the Nerds

Don’t ever bullshitA geek – They’ll eat you For breakfast,They do their homework.

Single life

I travel lighterAnd faster

Alone.

Lightbulb

I gotta GreatIdea!

The nervous smoker

Has tiny trembleIn his hand,

Nervous, If ‘shamed

For whoHe is.

The poetry of film

“Your worldis so far away,From the worldWe live in.”

Friendship

If you NeedAnything,

Just Ask.

Let us not forgot

I love youtoo.can we pleasestop fighting?

Old neighbourhood

Every shop and lamppost Distant family

Echoes from the gullyCaves now factory.

Pavement holes, imperfections,Retaining waterCease reflection

Once seen daily like the sunSome metamorph, Some cease, some gone.

Others, Roadsigns, bricks, tarmacRemain a flag for looking back.

On the Fence

The grass is seenSoft, lush and green,Both fields look just the same.

This time focus The dirt and sludge,Elevates Mirror’d grudge

Wobbling in apathy,Holding back from Grass is green.

Sand dunes in desert

Sand dunes -Lying curves,Of her Sweeping Sandy Skin.

Copy of original painting , painted

Deformed copyAdulteratesA once optimistic Canvas.Now bound In ugly portraitOf acrylic Replicana.

Megalomaniac

Start collecting artefactsFrom My indomitable, inexorable path

For one dayThey’ll build museums.

A beautiful Title

The Loneliness

Of

The long- Distance

Runner.

Understanding Poetry

Just a bunch Of (dumb) words,

On a page.

Tennis coach

Failed dreams,InjuryOr just plain simple tortury

Surviving in a world of gameDeep-down eternal passion'd flame, ReducedTo mirroringMiddle-class dread

WhereExpensive rackets, tennis shoesSpend Comfortable.Hitting bright tennis balls

Over fence And into net.

When China Rule the World

1.

We all Know the story, Of turtle and hare.

2.

We all knowHow The storyOf the turtle and hare,

ends.

3.

we all know the story of turtle and hare,

Especially the bit at the end.

Dream dangling

Heart racingWakes the bodyFrom greatest thrillerThat disappears,

As consciousness restores.

Beethoven’s fifth

The first four NotesOf rock ‘n’ roll.

Benjamin Saphiro

Mars men, venus girls

You cry.I say hurtful Words.

T’is the same.

(The) Five rings of sport

Forget your cups and premiereshipsAnd heavyweight crowns ‘n’ all…

There ain’t nothing like Winning gold medals.

Reductionism

Verbal diarrhoea.

Dictionary

The greatest bookOf poetry.

The great scam

Selling…

The Dream.

The empty book

Lain openBareNaked pagesEverywhere.

Spotted and soiledWith tearsFallen,From failure.

The great joke

Funny

Ghosts.

Every book Is Dorian grey.

Every oil lead and clay,Foetus frozen bastard child,

Disfigured portraits,Ghosts.

The great joke (revised)

Not funny.

The Communist paradox

IdealsDeclare equality, Unfortunate reality,Sea of folk – piranha’d fish Stepping on; like savagesfor leverage

Along the Thames

Trains Rumble. Railway archesNestled with fashionable Coffee shops thrive. Joggers with wobbly torsos,Hair receding from stressCharge by

And Church is but a tombstone.

Joke

Fat woman rolls Over and Kills A baby,

The princess and The pea.

Heaven must be a lonely place

Heaven must Be a lonely place.Just the big guyAll alone,Sitting on his kingdom’s throne - Trinity, to send him mad, Arguing, agreeing, inside his head

Yes, heaven must be a lonely Place. It must be a lonely place,As every manIs flawed.

Infinity

Ten print open speech-marksThis is absurdClose speech marks.

Twenty goto ten

Thirty,

Run…

No regrets

I care not If I only made Round one

Before hitting, seeing stars.

At least I wasA contender

No regrets.

Our books electric

Silent movie‘Come talkies

The Measure of a man

The measure of a manT’is what’s left .When fame has fallen

Away.

Past prime in electric jungle

Flesh, gaudy shoes, Desperate dance

Her feathers.

Pretty duckling, ugly swan.

Fall of the British Empire

Arrogant free-values BoastedSpawned rebellious,Ignorant, arrogant youth

While comfortable Middle-class; watered, feed,Lethargic, apatheticWhisper complaint

‘long with topSlowing watchingA once great, The greatest Empire

Fall to ruin.

The Fall of the West

T'is done but, To be written.

Black clouds(beeping silently)

Black cloulds,Creep smoothly,Across blue horizon

Like beeping space-invaders,OminiouslyCrawling down.

Clown

You see me smiling You see my tears

Clown.

I know crying I know tears

Clown.

Relationship, flawed

Still feeling Lonely.

Girl cried wolf

Turning on tearsFor sympathy,

Salt droplets Lost impact,Naturally.

Love is… for now

A cleverLittleCatch-Phrase

Well-spaced.

Protective helmet

We allow Men,Armed with little but Chalk-dusted courage,To climb mountainsWithout cables

Yet wind Cannot blow hair When peddling?

Leopard

You cannot paint A pigeon Pretty coloursAnd pretendA parrot, perched.

Fucking flag on vagina

Every manStill wants Discover, claim moon,

Even belated.

The beautiful game's facelift

FootballBecame soccer

When it lost Standing terraces.

Mobile serenade

Running freely it would seemBody’s rhythm, naturally,

Humming drill-school army chantTreading ‘long the path less spent,

Stumble ‘cross a park, disusedWhere the weeds and insects rule,

Moist sediment; pond dried upForms a crater, scooped and cut,

Bouncing by the twigs and stones:Stands teenager with bike and phone,

Tinny music cracks a songTeenager, he sings along

Bellows quieten as approachRestored once passing beyond wild growth.

Amazon Publishing

Selling a Soul

For 34cents.

South African democracy

Four lions,One succulent sheepSit around table,

As cravings decide Dinner.

Doubleudoubleudoubleu

The world, littleFingered.

Bedtime story

Our father, who art in heaven,Hallowed be thy Name.Thy kingdom come,Thy will be done,On earth as it is in heaven.Give us this day our daily bread.And forgive us our trespasses,As we forgive those who trespass against us.And lead us not into temptation,But deliver us from evil.For thine is the kingdom,And the power,And the glory,For ever and ever.Amen.

Jumping to conclusions

Looking,SeeingHalf.

Fisherman’s joke, stoned

“Seaweed.”

Movies ain’t what they used to be

They ain’t, just Whackin’ off

To some

Audi commercial.

Benjamin Saphiro

The hole truth

I Love you.

Until

A taller,Prettier,Richer

Version of youComes along.

The write way to wear a T-shirt

Having just enoughChest,To pull

The creases out.

All sport is…

Racing cars are tiny ballsBouncing nets, rounds, sets and holes,Chequered lines, prescribed TimesComfort in distress.

Heroes, really?

Statistics vary,But really?

No man is better Than his brother.

Fuck punctuation

Fuck off withAll your dotsAnd dashes,

All your little Lines and splashes.

Your rules,Fools!

Chain and tame.

Cant a man Just write

Unhindered

Smile, embarrassed*

Her copy was A smile, embarrassed,

For her beauty had Disturbed his thoughts.

*At least one line to match the greats

Will you miss me?

Will you miss meIn absent sojourn? Will you miss My fire'd yearn?Will you miss Every hair grown?Will you missThe heart I own?

My tender, fool’s wisdomMy Grave temperament?My footprints, winds, shadowsPheromones of my scent?History, baggageMy world pre your dawn?My accent, my timbreTeeth, smile and yawn?

The faults that appease meMistakes I have made?My stubborn and cunningDesire to change?The heart you know not yetIts unrivalled size?The little boy lost, trappedBehind adult eyes?

Dam. Slam.

Gimmicks, innit? Rap n’ rhyme,Performance artSprouts verbal whine,

Impress the puntersWooing friends,Meaning goneJust hook the end,

For every badassGansta bard,Giving itImpressive, alpha, large,

Take a breath‘for Planting seed,listen to the daddyheed.

The Moaning Lisa Wasn’t craftedFiring paintballsOn canvas.

Or was she?

Lifestyle list

Swim with dolphinsSee Tibet,Casino, RenoTwo girls, a bed

Life’s ‘to do’ listLook at me,Now tick off Family

And

Slowly wane, step back, drop off,

Officially tick middle-class.

Leaves rustling in the autumn wind

Thousand hundredDifferent green mirrors

Wave.

Solitude’s ironic paradox

Poet, clown, Share sameLonely heart

Frown.

Ode to Every Beginning

The night was young.

The great joke

Life’s So stupid.

Benjamin Saphiro

Poetry for the people

P.S. I Love You.

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Text copyright © Benjamin Saphiro 2013

1st Edition 2014

Layout and Design IGM & Benjamin Saphiro cover photo Sue Chow

Special Thanks: Ron Fitzsimmons and all the believers, you know who you are.