long has the sun loved
asking nothing in return
but for you to live

Without you, I'd die
you are the light of my life
lighter, I love you

A lesson hard learned
Is not too soon forgotten
Do you think of me?

a silver lining
only shines when it's raining
the clouds are a gift

vigorous willow
facing down a hurricane
the tallest tree sways

I've lost all my form
thundering darkness rolls in
moving me to sin

I am dark once more
does the night dream of the day?
it sure feels that way

and the stars have gone
I watched them all wander on
leaving me to black

the tempest rages
a storm is all it can be
nature is absolved

Waning moon rises
from it's long silvery dip
setting night ablaze

Opposites attract
Day and night, shadow and light
We are all these things

words are words are words
whether they uplift or curse

Cover my face
to converse with the heavens
a fall from such grace
should deserve some attention
some way to replace
broken light I was given
as the words taking shape
paint dishonourable mention
hard taught ways
the fall is the lesson
just another case of
divine intervention
a pool of disgrace
it's my purest reflection
a shower of silence
is all I was left with

Cover my face
this rain's getting heavy
as the rising tide
slowly breaches the levee
I'm caught in a place
where the ground is unsteady
so out of place
a landfill teddy
I lost all my faith
round nineteen or twenty
well, what I had left
it was far from plenty
god never showed face
sent angels to end me
if he wants me erased
he could have just sent me

Cover my face
the angels have left me
gone are the days
of feeling bereft
see, all that remains
are shadows that tempt me
one of these days
the dark will come get me
why should I stay
for one who rejects me
fills me half way
just to leave me half empty
questions the stray
he'd know if he met me
he led me this way
down paths tread with fell feet

Cover my face
rip it up gently
every night when I prayed
he would listen intently
as I counted the ways
the good lord detests me
it was on those days
he saw fit to bless me
the one and only
who didn't forget me
showed many faces
but not one upset me
showed me the steps
gave me identity
dance the devil's way
cause we're the same entity

Uncover my face
to write on the wall
brush off the last trace
of dust from the fall
when push comes to shove
he's inside us all
and that one up above
just won't do at all
he handed me this pen
at the edge of a blade
gave me first cause
to put words on the page
the tempest calls
to lift me away
a siren's song
I'm going all the way

An angel
in a bridesmaid dress
gliding through clones
and butterscotch smoke
to throw my vacant soul a win
gifting me her lips in sin
spilling secrets to the night
our barstool island
aglow in the strobes
bodies swelling at the shore
sands turn glass
in waves of stereo
with velvet skin
embracing dark
tied her tongue
to mine
and laughed

falling in love is easy
sticking the landing?
that's the hard part

in a minute
I'll be down on my knees
lost in a prayer to your hips

I don't even notice
that the honesty is free
making for the blood on your lips

let me taste this
while you show off
in this space we made
nobody knows of

come and fake it
let me go off
to another place
you make it so

so pretty
when I inhale you
consume your faithless body

compelled to feed these
ugly thoughts
awakened when I'm honest

My heart lies with the ones
who play with fire
blackened fingers
complement my eyes

Keep the shadow near
by our desire
we don't need to sleep
if we don't rise

I can tell you want to
get much higher
I've got what you need
you know the price

Angel, tell me
how do you trust a liar?
Tears and prayers
caught between the skies

My heart lies ablaze
in Heaven's pyre
lonely ashes
lingering
they complement my eyes

Every bar looks the same
when you live in a cage,
every round rounds out
with a shot and dry snout.

A cold night out
without snow on the pavement,
as truth slowly trickles through the fickle adoration,
and the empty, impatient crowd
is waiting.

The spotlight hits
a white tie on white shirt,
his smile is perfection,
perfected from dirt
through years of tears and blood and lies,
pompous prattle pasteurised.

The spotlight lingers like cheap perfume
from the back of the room
on a white tie and shirt,
handsome as a groom,
he talks with his hands,
his nails, neatly clipped,
are still lined with dirt.

He holds on to hope
for something like bliss,
not quite convinced it even exists,
outside of an incidental kiss,
but the build-up is crucial
to a master crafter,
and the crowd is rapt,
from the floor to the rafters
awaiting their happily ever after.

it's all you can do

How well you do it is up to you.

I'm much too busy
with my own little dittys
to check on the pretty
wee lights of the city

she likes sausage for breakfast
but we don't cook the eggs
then it's on to the next one as she's checking her texts
she's vegetarian and always late
from a generation that just couldn't wait
to not be sober and now they're older;
a body count that could outrank soldiers
storming the frontlines, nobody told her
be still for a minute and let someone hold her
so it's on to the exodus, on to the next one
never sticking around like Teflon
if you've a big one, you might share a shower
but best believe she'll be dust in an hour

there are no jumping cows.

no fields where trees
grow upside down.

they sprout from dead leaves

rising to meet the tired old moon
as it hangs
from an indifferent sky.

it melts away
like rain on snow

for the tiger tooth chaffinch
to make its home
among gnarled ebony
and shattered bones.

and even though I'm
wicked as sin
with a view
to excess vagaries

they tell me
I should pray to god
I'm not sure what for.

We're never truly lost
and this won't last forever
it just takes a little time
to put things back together

".. - well, we don't really know what's going on down here, Jack, but it's bad, it's so bad, rest assured it's all bad".

a case of addiction
a throw-away case
a waste of perfectly unusable space

a page of pulp fiction
a thrown away page
crumpled and tossed aside in a rage

a missed direction
a mystery chase
a tracing of a map misplaced

an act of misdirection
amiss and untraced
a misty night on a sunny day

a never ending cycle
a journey nowhere
a cycle with no journey
a re-closed cold case

don't get on my case
don't get in my way
I've already been in there for days

I've already seen the final page
I've already beat the denial stage
already been swept up in rage
I tried bargaining with the cage
better to accept it at this stage

I'll swallow up the burning coals
it's all I've ever really known
I don't have any decent goals
don't even have a go
but I sure put on a show
when all I have to show

are scars and blisters from my burnt out tongue
an itchy trigger finger without thumbs
regrets and defeat without wisdom
unsettling scenes obscene as *****
wet from the rain of fire from above
I'll settle on dealing by feeling numb

time
just a location in space
that keeps you in line
puts you in place
take some off
it takes your place
ticks you off
shapes your face
makes you late
consumes your days
makes you nervous
makes you wait
takes you out
takes itself
offers wealth
exchanges health
for similies
and nurse's smiles
and promises
to stay a while

If you mined my mind all you would find
are tattoos of you and your fine *** behind

I find myself
without a rhythm
a lack of lyrics
back in a prison
I thought
I'd escaped out the back
but the fact is
I backtracked
back by my own volition
and wishing
on familiar chains
to be free of dusty days
deep breath
inhale
choke on hope
and blow

People gawking
at people talking
about people talking
about people walking.

the butterfly
flitting vivid in the garden
kissing the prettiest flowers with abandon

and the watchful eyes
waiting on high
to gobble it up at random

the slinky tail
prowling the grass
dancing with light
between shadows it cast

steps with intention
alive in the night
not a single tomorrow in sight

A view obscured in clarity
Overlooked in surety
Determined by a nation
Inclined

Look at the way she moves
I see her in my dreams
dancing with colours
painting shades of serene

The canvas she adorns
is layered with her screams
her name is dark here
but I see what it means

Her eyes have been tempered
through fire and deceit
to burn is the cost
of a lovers heartbeat

Her voice is a story
of violence unleashed
her words, allegory
cascade through me

When angels are fallen
only they grieve
baring their souls
they forfeit reprieve

Her blood is the reason
my veins are replete
she drowns in the flood
so I can still breathe

I want to smother you
with my pillow hands
suffocate your skin

Scoop out your eyes
so you see no evil
blind you from all sin

I'll wrap you in chains
secured to my heart
control your brain
take away your dark

Twist your words
around my tongue
scratch them back
in your back
verbatim

I could cut you up
so you fit in my pocket
bleed your soul
into a precious locket

Smash your skull
to ease your mind
clawing my way
to your insides

am fae a toon that's done so bad
they gave it twa D's

whar the future greets
o' barren streets
on starless nights
an' the same ald wind

a suppose
ah wi kin dae is sing

an' sing wi dae
but no in tune
for ev'ry uphill
there's anither twa doon

an' some *****
howlin' awa' at the moon

it's quite the place meh toon
am gona quit the place quite soon
as I finish writin' this doon

an' tak' a last wee look
at the failin' toon
that helped write this book

The circle completes
The merry goes round
But I'm on the wrong side
With darkness around

This corner and that one
Miss Fortune has passed on
Missed warnings while black suns
Distort the track I'm on

Failed at school
Failed by religion
Failed by myself
Failed by the system

I could let the tears go
But this water's been still
For so long if I let it flow
It would just make me ill

****** up by family
****** over by friends
****** by society
****** over myself

The circle completes
The merry goes round
And I'm left at this side
Just darkness around

Delicate hearts, diabolical minds
We may be alive in marvelous times
But at times all I find is a rising divide
An inability to stop choosing sides

On one side a heart - is the other a mind?
Diabolical or otherwise I'm trying to find
Some reason for the feelings we're all leaving behind
Enthusiasm for a heart combined with a mind

Appear a certain way
Appearance always fades
I'm waiting for the day
That we can unveil

Our hearts from our minds

Life in marvelous times

I'll make the beat
    you bring a little melody
We'll find the words
    fit in to it perfectly

All we could need
    written in a reverie
Nightingale songs
    inscribed inside memories

Time is the tale
    of pen's wish, eternally
Yet none remains
    time is uncertainty

Ours is the ail
    of branching eternity
Unhear our names
    to learn who we're meant to be

desire is an enigma
rearing heads
razing beds
and god, the stigma
enough to make pretend
that
you never felt the fire
never used it to inspire
never wanted to get higher
like a vocal by Meg Myers

a falsetto
in stilettos
piercing hearts
robbing temples
unheard prayers
or the little death
that holds you
in your final breath

I had to hear the sound of the zip on that dress
I asked her back to mine for cold coffee and cigarettes
She said she doesn't smoke but she'd have one to impress
and she isn't one for coffee
So sorry, I digress

Before she sat down all these lines coalesced
with secrets and lies, I try to confess
she catalysed a crystal convalescence
her garnet eyes sparking wildfires in my chest
my lungs are so tight they could rival her dress
Stung in the heart for kicking the nest
took a shot in the dark
Again, I digress

A small crowded room - as small rooms tend to be
but for everyone there, she was all I could see
the picture of perfection, framed perfectly
in a dress designed to buckle my knees
Crowded c'rod'd quickly becomes we
and I was trying to get her on my settee
Is it a metaphor if I meant it literally?
Excuse me, once more it seems
I digress

I just had to get her out of that dress
mess up her make up
make her hair a mess
kiss her when she wakes up
and watch her get dressed
to undress her again
exalted by the scent
bask in the sound
of the zip on that dress
while I sip on cold coffee
and smoke cigarettes

hope ferments

a sweet berry
intoxicating

as the patient table
tending to the wine

bottled blessing
blood of a saint

gently rippling
in silence

and indifference
a crutch to hold your will

the black dog sneers
growls in your ear

Everywhere I go
They tell me I'm too ill
I won't make it to the door
I'll never get up that hill
They say I've got something for you
It's a handful of pills
Some bad information
And a battle of wills

With these demons inside
Eating me up alive
They won't stop screaming
I tried
To make them cease
But they hide
I can hear them
They lie
Somewhere deep in my mind
I can still feel their eyes
The screams will never subside
Now I'm

Going down that hill
Chewing every pill
I've had my fill
Of this unbreakable will
An unshakable thrill
The stranger is in
This door is unhinged
And I'm walking straight in

tried to make the jump from complainer to poet
but all I can seem to do is complain
I'll give you one guess where this thing is going
it's quite the frustration, let me explain

Upon drinking the whiskey and smoking the ****
all I got was drunk and addicted
I've spanked the frisky and choked the slags
all it left me was feeling conflicted

I've ripped through the prompts, copied the greats
I've read all the books and done all the time
I must have lost a ton of weight
from the sweat I've poured in a thousand lines

so now I just sit here, too thin and smelly
maybe I'll take up berating the telly

How can you believe my eyes?
magic seeks the commonplace
morning light has passed us by
bitten tongues will bleed disgrace

All this light is empty space
illumination at a price
I don't care to show my face
how can you believe my eyes?

Left your home seeking the light
tragic, gone without a trace
stars are wandering tonight
magic seeks the commonplace

Host of a forgotten place
lost the vision to your sight
new moon waxing as it wanes
morning light has passed us by

Angels mourn the devil's night
beauty lies in fallen grace
frozen flames are burning bright
bitten tongues will bleed disgrace

Look upon my hollowed face
anemic bones can bear no lies
torn by your spellbinding ways
show me your pale heart this night

Then, I might believe my eyes

A willing captive
gripped tight by her eyes,
steely, grey
and sparkling bright
in love
I watch her talk,
a loquacious fluence,
and study her lips like
a foreign language

your attention is slipping.

not at all.

well, she said
haven't you ever been in love?

I must have been
surely, I think
or something more akin
to time standing still,
the sands sculpting a moment
of a thousand lifetimes.

of course I have.

where is your love now?

right here, I think
chronic and immutable,
boxed into lines,
safeguarded and sound
in dreams and reflections,
vicarious,
a farce of mimicry.

well travelled,
I would say.

like blood from a stone.
well, she said
I'm glad you came,
will you come again?

and she went,
leaving me
with a pocketful of sand.

of course I will.

she's just the kind of girl
basement dwellers portray
scamming cash from weirdos
the dumb ones anyway

she wants to be a doctor
but life gets in the way
she still finds time to hit the gym
and keep the belly at bay

sometimes I have to pinch her
"just making sure you're real"
she smiles but I don't think she knows
the way she makes me feel

it's like rain at the window
while you're warm inside
it's finding the sharpest pencil
when you really need to write

it's the clinking of coffee cups
beneath the morning sun
and Euclid's consternation
as two remain one

she's just my kind of girl
that's all I have to say
the kind of girl to make you wish
you could sleep all day

the engineers have left the building
architects now rule the roost
nothing gets made but there's plenty
tilting and cooing over the pretty view

blood drips
from your lips
to my fingers
my hands
stealing kisses
leave stains on your cheek
I see you, you swear
in the way your gaze lingers
as your tongue

I tried

my knees are bruised

my stomach is full

my bleary eye has been caught


my breath treads shallow

my blood runs deep

my voice is swept by the majesty


my hands grow weary

my heart grows with them

my bones are a fortress of solitude


part them

in such sweet sorrow

my clouded lungs rejoice