The Old and the New

She wants to escape the familiar

And accept a stranger's hand

Where he'll lead her blindfolded

To a never-before-seen land

All the morsels sampled there

exotic and obscure

And timid creatures materialise

Drawn by her allure

While all her abandoned senses

Return like the fold at twilight

And bitter memories are hastily snuffed 

Locked, cast away, dead and finite

Alas, this wonder wonder

Will too one day become

A lacklustre mosaic

Well-studied and humdrum

Out of Reach

The rope

The branch

The proof

His hand

Stability

The wave

The dawn

The sign

His scent

Contentment 

The time

The itch

The word

His surrender

Relief

The Second Death

She is the grey

From the swipe of an oily rag

Across colours

Forced to play

Like stubborn children

Meeting for the first time

And any evidence

Of harmony

Surviving her angry smudge

Will be smothered

The View from You

Stay where you lay

Let me take your hands

I want to explore

Your mysterious lands

As I trek your terrain

Refrain your dissent

Guide me instead

As I make my ascent 

I find corners lurking

With secrets hidden

And dreams lying dormant 

With desires forbidden

Your tide is high now

Love, let me dive inside

Let me find dry ground

Your fertile soils

Your highest peaks

Your untapped oils

I shall pursue 

Without relent 

Without eschew

All this I plan

All this I'll do

Until I reach

The view from you

Surplus

She's hoarding love

In stacks tied up with boot string and shreds of lace

Her tender kisses stored away in boxes

Stacked in cupboards filled with longing

And in the drawers you'll find embraces

That flee like marbles escaping

From velvet pouches loosely drawn

Foreboding Joy

Her eyes were vacant

Like a beach house in the middle

Of a blistering winter 

Her mind silent

Like a stadium pre-dawn

No speed

No sound

But a gradual slowing down

Of necessity and urgency

And a delicate joy

Stirs from a slumber

And rises like a vapour

Across her skies

Personal not Business

I can't sell your lies

Don't make me

I'll spit them out like rotting teeth

I can't pull your wool

You couldn't fool me

I don't have the capacity

I'm not a puppeteering puppet

I'll dance when I want to

It's my choreography

My stage

My play

I won't even play dumb

There's no self betrayal

Or apology

I don't care what you think of me

It's none of my business 

Anyway

Intensive Care

Can't stop

The thought tsunami

When will it end

The slow rush of debris?

Destroying all that was me

Soul thieves

Leave no precious stone 

Steal my sparkle

All my remarkable 

What is left to love

Of these remains?

Nothing

And what to give?

To give?

Everything

Always

Always

Fine Tuning

Wrap me

In my blanket of despair

My tears don't absorb in the cosy mohair

Nothing's wrong

I like sitting here 

Just me

Humming some made-up tune

Sounding better

Than whatever

I heard on the radio

Not long ago

Love Sick

He is my salt

He is my salve

He is my vault 

He is my valve 

On the Mend

She was hoping

He would mend

Her broken wing

But all he did

Was break the other one

Cold Case

Her love vanished in a single moment

Plucked out like a file in an archived box

In a dank, dark basement

And left unreturned and forgotten

Forever

And with it

Her home

Mystery Clarity

Suspended

Life inhaled

Anticipation

Plans curtailed

Poised

Tomorrow unveiled

Revelations

In tiny fractions

To keep the mystery

Perpetuated

Synchronicity

Overstated

Signals

Mistranslated

Hallucinations

In pixilations

To keep the clarity

Perpetuated

Home

He weathers her storms

Sandbags her flooding levies

Removes her debris

Assesses the damage

And salvages remains

Full Mood

The joy of melancholy

Recedes like a tide

And the weight of happiness basks in shallow pools

Its colour and purpose exposed 

To a spectator sun

Justified

Smug

And revelling in a will well lubricated

Un-taut

Unlike I

Thick and slow with obstinance 

Stuck

Like a shipwreck

Too damaged to sail

Or even float

When the tide returns

War in Colour

She's collecting colours

To chase the blues away

Chaos Perplexus

She takes the wheel

And veers off the road

Avoiding straights and narrows

Finding long and windy routes

Slowing down then

Speeding up

Crashing and burning

She surrenders

Fenders dented

Destroyed intended

She takes the wheel

And the road veers left

Left stranded

In a dusk-lit field 

Stranded

Empty handed

Body slowing down

Thoughts speeding up

Crashing and burning

She surrenders

Wim Wenders

Destroyed unintended

She takes the wheel

Mesmereyes

Your eyes

Are a patch

Of Van Gough skies

Forced Entry

You picked my lock

You never had the key

I am ajar

Forced entry

No key required

Not even 

The right one

The Pity Pit

Hold on

I'm not quite done

Fist and jaw 

Take a double shot of clench

Yeah why not?

Hold the ice

Then we'll set off

I'm tired of quiet 

Cheers to tears big fears!

A quick swig and a dig

I'm-a-burying this pit

And you with it!

The Longest Now

Don't ask her

To muster

More than breath

For air is all she now requires 

Not love, nor laughter, nor pleasure

Of the body or the mind

But to exist

Only to exist

The Torture of Time

I remember

Course words well lubricated

Clumsily fired well aimed

Undeserved well received

I remember

Truths tossed cloaked in humour

Caught and treasured nonetheless 

Lips parting impending declarations,

caught by the ankles

Eyes have nowhere to hide

I remember

The unsaid

Pauses long and thick with desire

The honey air

Your hair

And now, I barter days for surrender

But time is a sadist and love is his muse

Battles

She peels away the tea-stained print

That shields her eyes from the scary outside

There may be a place for her yet

But she needs to dress accordingly

First she insulates her heart with wads of wool

And pads her ears

A hat and shades ensure identity fades

Now she is ready

For the quiet battle

And no one will flinch

When her canons are fired

Stains

In the black heat

Ice cubes crack and tumble from a tray

Skimming across the floor

Hiding beneath the refrigerator 

No attempt to retrieve

Forgotten 

A tepid puddle

Waiting in the dark

Quenching cockroaches 

Observing your daily routine

Quivering to an intermittent drone

Life is brief

But the stain

Remains

Crazy

So yeah

Maybe I am crazy

There's a place for misfits like me

It's everywhere you're not

And no place in particular

Where everything is nameless

And nothing is counted

Not the hours

Nor the coins

And no one is welcome

Except the wind

My Everest

So here we are

Again

In that place

Where familiar questions

Are left unanswered

And every notch and foothold

Carved into my vertiginous wall

Brings you no closer

To any ledge of reprieve

And what dilemma do you now face?

My dear, pathetic and lost

Do you keep climbing?

Or do you let go?

Perhaps we can do both

Poached Heart

You poached my wild heart

Watched it quiver on the plate

Contained in a fragile membrane

Gently cradled in your delicate hand
Ruptured by your silence

Masked Up

I shuffle away from their peals of approval

Drawing pleasure in drawing the blinds

Silencing joy in silencing the phone

Extinguishing delight in extinguishing the light

Indistinguishable 

Me

Barely

Recognisable 

But they'll remember my face

When I put on my mask

The one with the sad eyes

That made them laugh

Love & Patience

You're allowed to love me

What's holding you back?

They say love knows no boundaries

And I've pulled down mine

The obstacles are gone

No walls to climb

Except your own

Come on, take a peek

Unexplored fields await

And I wait amid the daisies

As long as the sun shines

I will wait until your eyes find mine

Once more and then

You will never lose me again

Losing Me

I've been spinning

Blindfolded

With hands on ears

Humming

I'm tripping and drowning

Out the noise

In my head

Oh the things they said

Below the belt

And off the cuff

Now roll up your sleeves

I'm-a-punching baggage

With the bruises to prove it

So you Think you can Dance

Emerging from the mist

Green blobs on browns sticks

Become trees

And the bird songs 

From the album called Life in Perfect Harmony

Drown out foreign voices

That chant against its rhythm 

And force me to dance to my own

While clumsily apologising

Every time 

I step on my toes

Leg-less Elevan

One-a-pill

Daffodil

Two-a-pill 

Three

Four-a-pill

Crazy still

Heaven help me

Five-a-pill

Time to kill

What a thrill

Seven

Eight-a-pill

All down hill

Heart be still

Eleven

Old Face New

Sometimes

You surprise me

Like an old dress

Hanging forgotten

Then rediscovered

And coincidentally

Current once more

But unlike the dress

I've worn you every day

Accustomed 

Rushing past mirrors

Never pausing to admire

Your stripes

And how lovely they are

Rattlin' & Rollin'

In her head the rattlin'

Senseless thoughts a-prattlin' 

And on her face the grapplin'

Smiles and tears a-battlin'

Every day the tacklin'

Her beaten body cracklin'

But don't you start a-dabblin'

For a pale horse she'll be saddlin'

Friend and Foe

The wind lead her here

To face familiar fear

It blows from behind 

Ushering her mind

She puts up a fight

But the wind's always right

It whispers console,

"Let me take control"

She surrenders her will

But fear remains still

Coiled like a vine

On her wit it will dine

"Trust in my reason"

Howls the wind without season

And off they flew

Into the fearless blue

Cured not Cured

Her heart has cured

A piece of pork

Fired

A clay pot

Set

Cold gelatine

Proved

A rising loaf

Turned

An oak leg

Irreversible 

House Proud

I negate the laundry

And choose instead 

To fold words into piles

And tuck them neatly away

In my soul drawer

To use again some day

Entropy

I woke up sober

And the world no longer tinted

Under a smoked lense

Yet it remains distorted

Through the broken filter

Of my brain

And everywhere your smiles

Are pulling faces

Mocking me

And everywhere your fingers 
Crooked

Convicting me

Whispering voices mispronouncing my name

And you grow weary of my stalactitic tears

As the years chase away the clarity of youth

And wear me down to the gnarly bone

Discharge

Don't rescue me

I'm finally free

I found my smile

Under a pillow of clover

And when I lay down

My head is light

Unburdened by the unrequited 

And once again my heart

Can be relied upon 

Something

Send me something

To remind me of you

You will do

Autobiography

She's an open book

But a challenging read

Residual

She will linger

On his tongue he'll sing her name

Again

Again

Flamingo Sky

Flamingo sky

Silent and shy

Bowing before my yearning eye

Never an encore before leaving

A unique performance every evening

Similar yes, though quite deceiving

A different shade of pink 

A deeper grey

And though you smile

You hide dismay

Flamingo sky

The saltiest of tears

Pool between my lips

Where you've dipped

Your sturdy foot

Genuine Lie

She can only pretend
To be herself

Skirting the Issue

Cute as a button 
Heart on her sleeve

 Hot under the collar

Falling apart at the seams