Another ekphrastic poem, a reflection upon visual arts, but this a bit more ironic in tone and topic!

“Nunc est Bibendum” 

(Ode to a Thirsty Ghost)

“Bibendum, my boy, now is the time to drink!”
And you lift the wine glass
     Of nails and broken bottles
     (And is that a horseshoe serving as lime?)
In your other hand, a burning cigar
     Serves as no affectation

Synthetic saint, tyre-man eternal,
You drink the roads and our misfortune
Pneumatic mummy with joie de vivre
Who wonders that wallets come to worship?

Great white phantom, 
Your skin
     The milky blood of forest trees
Your folds 
     Sumatran greys and Indochina reds
Drink the Congo
Graveyards in Guinea
Butcheries in Brazil

Bibendum, The Great and Terrible,
(So much has ridden on your tyres)
We absolve your vulcanized heart
Exalt your inflated muscle

He who rideth upon the waters and oil
Ever younger and without blemish
He who swallows the nails of the world
Paid in the milk of a million gashes
Body without end, Amen.