Sounds Good! : OTT - Miscellany

Short Story: Lesley Gore Temping

Simon Sweetman — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 09:35:06 GMT

The days leak from the packet of the week like the last tears at the end of the party. There’s all that build-up for nothing. It’s just going to happen again. Coins in the fountain. No cars on the road.

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Poem: Perversion of Justice:

Simon Sweetman — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 23:43:57 GMT

The Pervert has a normal life.
The Pervert had a normal wife.
The Pervert prefers verbal strife.

The Pervert enjoys normal things — but also not so normal too.

Like wearing his three year old’s shoe, sometimes on his head, and often
in bed — and sometimes just to shock, he wears that shoe right on his cock.

The Pervert is not such a bad guy. (Unle…

Poem: Flight Mode

Simon Sweetman — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 02:10:51 GMT

It was a weird fight about how I never
want to go anywhere; weird because
in the morning I had a plane to catch

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Poem: Diabolic

Simon Sweetman — Sun, 19 Jan 2025 23:27:59 GMT

In the house where they choke
All that matters is hope. It hangs
by a rope, dangling just out of reach.

In the home where they screech,
there’s so much they could teach
but still too much for them to learn.

Where they yearn for some lift,
for hope and heart, for some gift,
instead they choke, but keep breathing.

Short Story: Cliff’s Notes

Simon Sweetman — Sat, 21 Dec 2024 00:06:25 GMT

*Do dishes.
*Put away clothes.
*Tidy bench, put rubbish out.
*Feed cats.
*Make tomorrow’s lunch.
*Brush teeth.
*Shave.
*Recycling bin.
*Buy new heavy duty bin liners.
*Formaldehyde?
*Rotting fruit in refrigerator: Remove.
*Return DVDs.
*Dust
*Rotting head in refrigerator: Remove.
*erase Google searches // delete internet browsing history.
*Buy new cat food.
*Feed fish.

Poem: Hitting A Similar Wall To Roger McGough

Simon Sweetman — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 22:33:46 GMT

“It’s like bashing your head against
a brick wall”, he said, while listening
to Pink Floyd’s album, The Wall.

Refer a friend

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Short Story: Coping

Simon Sweetman — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 04:22:09 GMT

Reilly wasn’t coping. She could not make it work. She lived alone, as that was best. She did not wish to challenge the court order, and only thought the court was never truly in order anyway. So what if the world burning, so what if the earth might stop turning. The life of Reilly was indeed the issue. And until she found her phone she absolutely could …

Playlist: Taking Care of Business # 6 (Christmas Edition)

Simon Sweetman — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 07:56:45 GMT

From time to time I like to make, and share playlists. And for a while I’ve been thinking about making a set of ambient/chill/jazz/classical playlists — no real theme but the idea being they’re nice for working to/working with…

A lot of people like ‘ambient piano’ or that sort of thing for working — but why not learn a few names and artists, and not just…

Poem: Simply Read

Simon Sweetman — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 18:56:33 GMT

told a mate the book I wrote was probably
the world’s most mentions of Pink Floyd
in poetry. He said, “Let’s hope so”. But
I don’t know. I can’t stop writing about them,
listening to them, reading about them;
someone tipped the sauce bottle up and really
smacked the side of it extra hard.
Because all of this gushing comes entirely
from me thinking about a cha…

Poem: The Day of The Book Launch

Simon Sweetman — Sun, 01 Dec 2024 00:04:42 GMT

My parents are here, and so relieved
they’re not in it this time, they’ve already
read this book.

I’ll write a speech — but first a playlist,
there’s an awkward few minutes to fill
at the start, will two hours of music

be enough? My mother in law is making
sandwiches. Emily messaged and asked
me to remove the dead rat from her room

so she could finish her spee…

Poem: Monotropic Split

Simon Sweetman — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 18:10:00 GMT

Let’s keep driving in tunnels —
no chance of a burnout there.

Put the Kraftwerk on, let energy
flow. Make molehills from mountains

and just keep driving. Autopilot
is not your friend, but could be

you saviour. Worlds are weird,
and we can never choose them.

So just kept your foot down.
I guess that’s your heads up.

Poem: Music

Simon Sweetman — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 01:30:34 GMT

The ghost in my life never frightened me
unless I wanted it to — the constant

shadow never caught me by surprise,
I always knew it was there — perhaps

I should have spent more of my time
reading about anything else, or trying

to commit other facts to memory,
something more job-related?

But the hooks got right in, and sat
under my skin. I’ve been held in its

s…

Poem: The Gates of Dawn

Simon Sweetman — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 03:31:13 GMT

The first Pink Floyd album should
be renamed as Syd Barrett solo —

they never had that kind of chaos
ever again. There were new highs,

but nothing comes close to Barrett’s
way with words or the tone

of his guitar. I think “Crazy Diamond”
unfairly belittles him. In today’s world,

his mental health would not
be weaponised against him; his

unique Overdrive was…

Poem: I Was Listening to DJ Shadow When I Thought I Saw A Ghost

Simon Sweetman — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 03:09:07 GMT

alone, late at night, in a room by myself.
Footsteps brushed through the carpet.

I am not a believer — in much, besides
optimism, which, technically, is everything.

Sat quietly and watched the footsteps
brush back out of the room. I had the right

music on, alone in that room. At least one
of us thougth so. And both of us were safe.

Playlist: Taking Care of Business # 5

Simon Sweetman — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 19:04:06 GMT

A lot of people like ‘ambient piano’ or that sort of thing for working — but why not learn a few names and artists, and not just…

Poem: Late Scourge

Simon Sweetman — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 22:17:36 GMT

The golden idealism is coming for us all,
it’s the gold watch we feel we’re owed.

One day we’ll step up to claim it, step
up to shame whoever might seem to be

standing in our way. This is the ugliness
of today. Be hopeful for enough awareness,

be sure it’s not you and your idealism, let
the golden hues settle on anyone else.

Poem: Coin Tossing

Simon Sweetman — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 03:58:29 GMT

If you are afraid of imposter syndrome
it’s because you know deeply
about your own self-sabotage. You think

this means others know too. But only
you know about the worst versions
of you. So your idea that you are not

good enough comes from the examples
you already have. That is your proof.
It’s unconnected though, and only

you see them as two sides of the co…

Poem: Paul Hertzog’s Score for Bloodsport

Simon Sweetman — Sun, 20 Oct 2024 18:12:47 GMT

He’s a school teacher now,
couldn’t get the Hollywood gigs.

But he wrote the music for
two films starring Jean Claude

Van Damme — and what did
you ever do? I nearly cry

with elation when I listen
to the music from Bloodsport,

when ‘Frank’ comes back
and the face of his girlfriend

is just a cake of pure joy.
Paul Hertzog’s music

the sweetest icing, the very
best …

Poem: Your Latest Trick

Simon Sweetman — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 19:05:01 GMT

You write an academic essay
about the Dire Straits album,

‘Brothers in Arms’. The lecturer
gives you a ‘D’. At first, you think

it’s clever code; cute. You’re
thrilled until you hear him saying

“Nothing here but stoner nonsense”.
But all of his complaints about

the things you should have said,
and songs you should have mentioned

are from other albums. So yo…

Playlist: Love Is To Die So Hold Me Now

Simon Sweetman — Sun, 13 Oct 2024 08:41:41 GMT

From time to time I like to make and share playlists. This one is based around a family road-trip playlist. We take turns choosing songs, then shuffle them up — I then re-build this one based on the order it played in on the day, and removed a couple of songs, added a couple of new ones. I’m really

pleased with the result and you might like it too:

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