male aggression and the use of repetitive mundane words – part one

male aggression and the use of repetitive mundane words – part one

 

wednesday

wednesday

wednesday

wednesday

wednesday

wednesday

wednesday

wednesday

wednesday

wednesday

wednesday

wednesday

Wednesday

Wednesday

Wednesday

Wednesday

Wednesday

Wednesday

 

© simon garlick

The Night-watchman

The Night-watchman

A short film about a man and his dog, who search the sky for aliens after hearing a local radio news report.

CHARACTERS

JACK:
A man in his late 50s, he is old school, used to be a miner, but he was made redundant years ago. Last year his wife, Irene, died.

FRANCO:
Franco is a Jack Russell terrier, his owner is Jack. Franco is very sarcastic.

MRS BOSSTLETWAITE:
Mrs Bossletwaite is one of Jack’s neighbours, she often checks up on him since Irene’s death.

HAROLD:
Harold is an old man; he is thin and drawn. He was an old man when Jack first met him, when he started as an apprentice down the mine.

The Night-watchman

Jack is in his Kitchen. It is a very small affair, he makes a brew and has almost finished preparing a fry up, his dog is watching him cooking the food, he pours the contents of the frying pan onto a large plate and then sits down, dog sits beside him and looks towards food. The radio has been playing in the background and as he tucks in he realises that he has left his cup of tea on the side next to the kettle. As he gets up to retrieve it a news ‘and finally’ item is heard, saying that there have been reports of strange shaped aircraft (UFOs) being seen flying over the moors, he turns the volume up and stands attentively listening.
Once the bulletin is over he takes a slurp of his tea and leans over to a unit handle where a dog lead is kept. He takes the dog lead, turns to his dog and says:

JACK

Come on Franco, Time for a walk.

Franco troddles over to Jack, and the pair exit the kitchen and head down the hall towards the front door. Once at the front door, Jack unlocks five bolts and Yale locks and goes to turn the door handle. He stops, looks at Franco, mutters something and re-locks all five of the locks he has just unlocked, turns back towards the kitchen and walks back down the hall. Franco remains at the door and looks longingly at the handle.
Back in the Kitchen jack boils the kettle, takes out an old flask, makes about a pint of tea and pours it into the flask, Whilst this is happening, he also makes some ham and cheese sandwiches and wraps them in an old sheet of grease proof paper. He also takes a small tin of Butter beans out of a cupboard and places them, along with the flask and the sandwiches into an old nap-sac and once again, heads towards the door. Jack reaches the door and Franco starts wagging his tail.
Jack once again starts unlocking the locks, goes to open the door, looks at Franco and once again re-locks all the locks and heads back into the kitchen. Franco lies down, looking very sullen.
Back in the Kitchen Jack goes to the radio (which has been playing all this time, the station it is tuned to plays old style archers music) switches it off and picks it up. Jack takes it with him. He heads back to the door; Franco stands up and once again wags his tail. Jack unlocks all the locks for a final time and opens the door. He puts Franco’s lead on and turns and locks the door from the outside.
Jack and Franco walk down the path to the front gate and go through it. Jack has the radio in on hand, Franco’s lead in the other and his nap-sac over his shoulder. They head down the road.

Jack and Franco walk down numerous roads of a small town. On their journey they bump into a couple of locals.
At different points along the way, the following interactions take place.

MRS BOSSLETWAITE

Good morning Mr Ramsay, good morning Franco.

JACK

Good morning Mrs Bosslethwaite.
(Franco looks up at her)

[Followed a little later by:]

HAROLD

Morning Jack, nice day for it

JACK

Yes, I suppose it is.
Come on Franco.

The walk then continues and we see Jack and Franco leaving the town and head up a country lane towards the moors.
The journey takes quite some time, until they reach a gentle hillside. They walk up the hill and find a nice spot in the middle. Once there, Jack takes the lead off Franco, who has a little walk around and starts emptying the nap-sac. Once he has removed the flask, sandwiches and tin, we see him pull out a small tartan rug and a pair of small binoculars. He lays the rug flat and sits down placing the sandwiches, flask and tin back in the bag. He switches the radio on and pats by the side of him for Franco to come and sit down, Franco does so.
We leave this scene with some more archers type music floating over the hillside with man and dog sat next to each other; Jack is looking through the binoculars towards the sky.

Some time later
Its approx. 3pm in the afternoon.

We return to the same scene, only this time Franco is asleep with his head on Jacks lap.
Throughout the next conversation we are unable to hear what Franco says, we are not even aware that he can talk, so we only, in effect, hear and know that Jack has spoken.

JACK

Time for a drink I think. Come on Franco, move over.

FRANCO

I was just getting settled then!

JACK
[Pouring a drink from flask]

Plenty of time for sleep later on. Were on duty now you know.

FRANCO

I don’t think they are going to show… bright lights in the sky! Ha, what a load of tosh!

JACK

There are millions of planets in the Universe, Franco. There must be life somewhere. If they show again I want to be the first person to great them, and you’ll be the first dog. What do you think of that mate?

FRANCO

Bollocks!

JACK

Well please yourself! But one day they’ll arrive, you’ll see.

The scene ends until we return to the same scene at a much later point, its about half four.

Later Still
(We are still unaware that Franco talks)

FRANCO

You’ve never been the same since Irene died; I don’t know why you don’t see a doctor or something.

JACK

I really miss her you know.
[Pause]
Anyway, we can’t all go to get medication as soon as a little trouble bubbles up into our lives.
[Pause]
No, Irene was strong, and I must be strong as well. She used to adore you, you know.

FRANCO

Like bugger she did! She couldn’t stand me, Many was the time that my backside felt the toe of her slipper! Miserable old trout.

JACK

Franco!
[Pause]
I’ve still got them you know,
her slippers.

[Long pause]

What do you think, I bet they’re up there somewhere, watching us, watching them.
Just you wait. I bet they show.

[Long pause]

[Jack reaches into his nap-sac]

Cheese or Ham?

FRANCO

Cheese.

JACK
[Hands Franco a cheese sandwich]

I thought so.

This scene ends and we leave the pair munching on their respective sandwiches.

We return to the same scene at a much later time. It is darker now (about 7pm) and Jack is lying on his back, binoculars in hands looking up to the sky. Franco is lying next to him.

[Much Later]
(The last of Franco’s lines in this section is the one we can hear.)
[‘all the time in the world' by Louie Armstrong, can be heard playing quietly on the radio]

JACK

I like this tune Franco It’s possibly one of my favourites.

[Pause]

In fact, I’m going to say that it is my favourite.

FRANCO

Whoopie-doo.

JACK

There’s no need for sarcasm. I was only stating a point.

FRANCO

Well, I’m bored.

JACK

MMmmmmn…

FRANCO

They’re not going to show you know. Come on, Its getting late, lets go home.

JACK

Yes, You’re probably right. Come on then.
Let’s go.

Jack packs their stuff, has one final look at the sky and then we see the pair of them walk down the hillside back to the town. The Camera stays where they were sat watching them from behind. It then pans up to the sky and we see a bright blue/white circular fuzzy light shoot into shot, stop, spin around a bit and then rocket off, back into space.

The End

 © simon garlick

Undiscovered

It was due to the fact that he was dead that nobody saw him.

 

It had been quite a while.

 

Prior to death he had been driving, but now he had nowhere to drive. Well nowhere where he would be driving.

The air smelt sweeter now, he tasted the honeysuckle that for years had grown tired and bare, no-one was aware that it gave off any scent at all. The next person to visit wouldn’t smell it either; instead the rancid stench that lay behind the door would greet them.

As I said, it had been a while.

The dog sniffed around the living room before finding a comfortable place to settle for a long sleep.

Thomas walked out the door and the sweet sent grew even more strong, almost overbearing his senses. He paused, took one look behind at what had been his home then danced a merry jig and sped off into an eternal night.

 

 © simon garlick

 

Conversation: Sheep to Tony, Tony to Sheep.

Conversation: Sheep to Tony, Tony to Sheep.

 

This is not about oil, its about freedom he said
We show them how life is with choices he said
To choose how to live and to not end up dead
And that is our aim in this war he said.

A life like our own? Is that it ? I said
Our freedom to choose, are you sure I said?
To have faith in the truth, and to not be mislead
Is that your true aim in this war I said.

Yes he said yes yes he said.
To be truly free and to never be dead.
To have lots of choice and to never be led,
Down the sorrowful path of dictation he said.

Well I don’t believe you, I think it’s a lie
For oil and for money these people do die
Your hunger for power is extraordinarily high
And that is why you lie, you lie.

How can you say that how do you know?
It can’t be because I told you so,
For I have said nothing that could contradict
Our allies and their assimilation remit

You must be some kind of traitor I think
So we’ll take all your pens and all of your ink
You’ll write no more, and you’ll dare not think
You’ll dare not think, you’ll dare not think.
You’ll write no more, and you’ll dare not think
You’ll dare not think, you’ll dare not think.
So I wrote no more, and I dared not think.
I dared not think, I dared not think.

 

© simon garlick

Wise Man Memphis

Wise Man Memphis

 

Wise men went to Memphis
Went into the Palace
White All-round surroundings
They don’t see no angels
They don’t come to my place
I ain’t new born Jesus
I’m so superficial
Like my Brother Thom

Call me hypo-nervic
’cause I see rainbows
Rainbows full of Blackness
There ain’t no sun in the sky
Wishing I could touch it
It would send me falling
Like a blue umberella
Thats been put up in the house

Cow smiles, makes me happy
Bitch just hits me back
Asking me to explain
but I don’t know who I am
Cross me on the roadside
Don’t you sit and watch me
say you understand me
but you’ll miss me when I’m gone

Asking me to leave you
I can’t say goodbye
hope i see you sometimes
maybe we can share our love
why do you want to save me
try to free yourself
my heads going to explode
and its just to save my health

 

© simon garlick

Ring of Fire

As I look outside my window
I see cloudbursts in the sky
No-one told me they would explode
No-one told me I would dieStep inside my ring of fire
You can hold me if you want
As the flames rise squeeze me tighter
Then you scream because you need more

You can’t see me when the wind blows
You can’t look into my eyes
All the trees are moving softly
Set in motion by my crys

Steel away my sweet red cherry
Hold it up so you can laugh
Give it to your fellow soul mate
If you keep it it won’t last

Rape me with your hands of silver
Press then hard to brake my heart
Carry me up to see the sun rise
Let me fall when you get tired

Step inside my ring of fire
You can hold me if you want
As the flames rise squeeze me tighter
Then you scream because you need more

 

© simon garlick

Not Playing The Game

Ok, so granted, i will usually let my feelings out via poetic verse, however, tonight i can not, so instead, i offer up a rant about the general state of things, and more importantly, the dire state of british politics today. Now first up, I have never voted and I refuse to do so, unless there is an option on the voting form that says ‘non of the above’. Why is this so important to me, well, politics in the western world has become way too much of a game, its about winners and loosers, its about gangs. ‘my gang is bigger than yours!’ ‘look at all the people who want me in power’. bollocks. People only vote for parties because they have to be seen, or feel that they have had a choice, that they have made a difference in the world that they inhabit. Of course you and I know that they don’t, yet they are happy, because they believe that they have a vote, a voice, their say. Do they realise how much of a game politics has become? do they know that it is all just a game? Martin bell knew that that was the state of british politics, he went in there, fighting, with the eyes of a journalist (not your new fangled bbc news 24 ot sky news jurnalist, who are more concerned with their own image, and the false story, and the ”””’latest headline””” ””””’breaking news””””’ ”””” we were first””””,) no, mr bell had seen the world, he had seen war, famine, politics, life, and he knew what he saw was wrong. so how do you make a difference? well you stand as a member of Parliament in your local constituency, you stand for what YOU believe in, not the game. not winning. you stand for life. you stand for the benefit of humankind. for people like you and me. you stand for yourself. And so, until the voting form in the UK IS CHANGED, UNTIL I CAN VOTE THAT I DON’T WANT ANY OF THE ABOVE TO REPRESENT ME. NON OF THE ABOVE, THREE SIMPLE WORDS. NON OF THE ABOVE MUPPETS REPRESENTS WHAT I WANT, WHAT I FEEL, AND WHAT I THINK. until THERE IS A NON OF THE ABOVE OPTION, THERE IS NO POINT IN VOTING, AS ALL I WILL BE VOTING FOR IS A GAME, I DON’T LIKE THE GAME, MY LIFE IS NOT A GAME. I AM HUMAN AND I HAVE MY OWN RIGHTS AND MY OWN BELIEFS, AND SO, NON OF THE ABOVE APPLIES TO ME, but it will never happen, there will never be a non of the above. that’s thinking way too faroutside the box, thats becoming dangereous, like mr martin bell became dangerous, he became way tooo dangerous. and those playing the game, well, they didn’t like that, they didn’t seem to like truth.

shame on them. shame on them all. all the game players.

Widow, widow, What Shall You Do

Widow, widow, What Shall You Do

 

Widow, Widow, they’ve all gone
You stand alone with one last son
They stole your husband, cut him short
And then they laughed before they fought
Your eldest son, and ran him through
All this as if to torture you.
And now you’re left, with your new born
So raise him to be good and strong
And then when they decide to fight
They’ll have your young one in their sights
They’ll shoot him, stone him, hang him too
No parts to be returned to you
And then you will be all alone
Your tears will fill your hollow home
But widow, widow, what will they do?
They’ve taken all your men from you
Their bloodthirst they have not fulfilled
By having all your loved ones killed
Oh widow, widow what shall you do?
When they decide to come for you.

 

© simon garlick

Its time to bury the dead

Its time to bury the dead

Its time to bury the dead,
Their blood that was so red,
Is now all brown.

The smell is not so fresh,
A sign of putrid death,
For they are gone.

Got shot down in their prime,
Now they’ll rest, for all time,
A silent sleep

Fall to your knees, its time to weep,
For their bodies the worms will eat,
Their souls departed.

 © simon garlick

Blue Sky Fell

Blue Sky Fell

 

As the man
Stepped outside his door
The blue sky fell down
As he smoked
A cigarette
His eyes became red

When his wife
Did scream out loud
A baby came out
Its face
Was strawberry red
His mother was dead

The man
Held up his son
Raised him to the clouds
The rain
Fell down on him
Hot rain on cold skin

As the man
Stood broken with pain
The blue sky fell down
As he smoked
A cigarette
His eyes became red.

 

 

© simon garlick