Wart on Error

“Does the crocodile understand a conversation that doesn't include a weapon?”
Usama bin Ladin from a speech broadcast on 1/11/2004, translation by Al-Jazeera


Wart on error
The swelling of mistake
Culpability and coercion
An oriental diversion
Smoke & mirrors
Cries & whispers
The spider fingers
Of Fu Manchu
Tweak the strings
Of a trap
Tweak the strings
Of marionettes
Mr Punch beats up Judy
The crocodile steals
The sausages
And you cannot negotiate
With a crocodile
Without a weapon in your hand.

James Piers Taylor, 21/7/2006

IMAGE: Boris Karloff as Dr Fu Manchu in The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932).