You've snuffed flickering
Flames of injustice yet their
Hate dims your lantern.

As the light fades, I cannot
See the ablution of souls.

Am I the catch or am I now the bait?*
   I ask as you unhook me from your line
   And throw me into passioned arms that wait
   For loving eyes to move from your benign
   Beauty. You let your predatory whine
   Escape your lips as you bring mine to yours
   And stop. And tease. And take the lovers’ sign
   And stake it in my heart with smiling force.
You take his hand in yours. I drown slowly in air.

The sun shone on the school field
As it all lay out before me –
A bright prospect written on a golden apple –
And yet this is the reality.

..a bit **** really…

I was sold a lie spun by a weaver,
I did not catch his name,
Who took my firstborn dream
For a minimum-wage timeshare.

I’m angered by my idiocy.
Who am I, a Prince of the Estate,
To believe in happy ever afters
And the meritocratic lie?

Troy’s walls are lain siege
By the slings and arrows
Of others’ fortune until
We retreat to our place.

Dreams are merely adverts.
Richness becomes richer
As we forever chase rainbows
In the hope of a *** of gold

Only to find cigarettes of the soul –
False illusions. False illusions
Shattered into mirrored shards
Reflecting a broken man.

I am Prometheus – I stole the flame
Of Pandora and set it free
Only for doves to peck at my liver
And **** on my heart.

I remember, don’t worry
As your words softly drift over me
Like a body in the snow.
How could I ever forget?
You hold him as my arms outstretch
My reach and I fall.
Don’t worry, I know
You can never loosen his grip for me
Or your grip on me
Around my heart.
Don’t worry, I know
I can never shout from the rooftop
As your hand strokes my face
And surrounds my throat.

Across the aisle you write your vows
To David or Richard or Steve
As your full lips form around my name -
I’ll hold you forever in mind.
Goodbye face and hair and eyes
Unobservant of my longing.
Let me in – uninitiated and weak.
Nourish me with your powerful words,
Soft on my skin like a nymph’s breath.
Envelop me in your robes and offer me
Confession. Make me believe.
My little monk, why quiver and
Twitch at my strong-soft caresses?
I pass my love through my fingers
And pull back your hood to see your
Blessing. Shower me with kisses
Unbidden by taboo as life
Spills from us, wasted on the sand.

Stood by the subway, I see in your eyes
A flickering flame of desire;
A burning passion needing a kindling “yes”
Yet I let it turn to cinders
To feel the cold I deserved.

Now?
Bathe me in flames!
Char my flesh with kisses
And burn away my idiocy.

But another has re-lit the fire.
Tended it. Stoked it.
Kept it burning through dark nights.
While I look through cold-mist eyes
And cradle my burnt fingers.

Remember that suit at the wedding?
I breathed in hard as the clasp shut tight
Corsetting me to shallow breaths
And a constant tension of stomach muscles
Awaiting a punch.
You were my waistband
I outgrew and, out of desire
For better days, kept.
I forced myself into your love
And although having no feeling,
Comfort was in constriction.
And then you broke
As the seat of your love
Tore asunder and I
Was cold.