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14.8k · Nov 2014
-Eclipse-
AMcQ Nov 2014
Last-night
there was an eclipse;
But not of blood orange
shadows
draped on a dazed moon.
No.
'twas of my blood red
pulsing heart
accepting its solitude
in the shadow of yours.
9.8k · Feb 2015
-Friday-
AMcQ Feb 2015
What is that cacophony of emotion
that falls out of the sky and into my head
when the words "It's Friday" are said?
Comical and all as it is,
I have really fallen for her; for Friday.
Over and over again.
Forever hopeful and rarely inconsistent.
Full of promise, never bad intent.

I wish you were my Friday.
Happy Friday HP friends!
9.4k · Dec 2014
-My Fears-
AMcQ Dec 2014
One day, all of the 'coulds' will change into 'cants'.
6.7k · Dec 2014
-Traffic-
AMcQ Dec 2014
Today, a door was left ajar.
My thoughts have escaped me;
I wonder if they know not to play in traffic
or strike matches found in the tool shed.

I'll wait 'till dark before I worry.
4.3k · Dec 2014
-Moth-
AMcQ Dec 2014
With dusty wings
and awkward flight
Your tiny buffalo body
bounces on the
delicate glass surface.
An exaggerated shadow
announces your plight.
Is it the beauty of
the butterfly
that spurs you.
Why so frustrated;
so persistent?
Do you know of emotion?
Maybe you do,
and it is your own
dark turmoil
that draws you to the
glass skirted flame.
4.2k · Dec 2014
-Climb-
AMcQ Dec 2014
Like ivy wound
and woven through
trellis;
you envelope
my very being.
Curling, gripping
clutching my skin.
Inching upward,
reaching for
wispy blue skies.
Perhaps you are
climbing beyond
me.
I ask only that
you do not slight
my role in your
rise.
4.0k · Apr 2015
-Helium-
AMcQ Apr 2015
My little helium filled heart
floats off into the clouds,
free from the weight of itself.
It makes miniatures of buildings
losing sight of material things.
From its' skewed perspective,
high in the stratosphere,
It has grown bigger than
the earth itself.

There is poetic sadness
in finally reaching happy;
a lust for inspiration
in the openness of the
universe it creates.
Happy Friday
3.9k · Nov 2014
-Prisoner-
AMcQ Nov 2014
Forever beating heart;
Why do you flee
the safety of
my chest once more?
Is it so that
you may confront
your opponent...
has the mind provoked you?
Perhaps you sailed north
of your own accord;
to pry open my lips
and pour out love
as I battle to suppress
your persistence.
3.9k · Jan 2015
-Spider-
AMcQ Jan 2015
Sometimes I wonder
Whether I truly fear
the spider
or I have simply
become obsessed with
its every move.
Sometimes, you are
that spider.
3.5k · Nov 2014
-Silhouette-
AMcQ Nov 2014
Delicate shoot,
not yet anchored...
How you fail to foresee
your beauty adorned
on this wilderness.
You are weak now.
Rest.
One day your silhouette
will dance on the horizon.
3.4k · Nov 2014
-Morning-
AMcQ Nov 2014
I love her most
When the dawn glow
makes shadows on her face.
When the fog of unconsciousness
has relaxed limbs
and warmed her soft skin.
When her waking woes
have played out in dreams.
When her hold tightens
and I let go of
everything but her.
3.4k · Aug 2016
-Hands-
AMcQ Aug 2016
I wonder how it felt before;
Before the perfect fit
of my hand and yours.
3.0k · Jul 2015
-Cosmic-
AMcQ Jul 2015
Ever look to the night sky beyond tiring windscreen wipers?
They screech, exasperated by an army of droplets hurtling downwards.
Ever lean on the dashboard gazing upwards into the downpour?
Constant and linear; like how stars zoom past spaceships in old movies.
A whole universe of dazzling stars.
That's how she lived; her aura a universe peppered with light.
Light forever radiating towards captivated eyes.
Oh, she loved with a love unparalleled.
2.9k · Nov 2014
-Mind-
AMcQ Nov 2014
I wish to enter your mind;
to scrub clean its walls
of frenzied brush strokes
and scribbled words.
I will not stop
until my hands blister;
until I make of you
a blank, echo-filled room.
Only then, will I
leave for you my art;
A single flame,
glowing bright
to fill and warm.
You will only feel it.
But all will see it
in your eyes.

**Let me in...
2.9k · Nov 2014
-Butterfly-
AMcQ Nov 2014
Words swirl through parting crimson.
Each syllable reflects on
the warm surface as it passes.
Some are almost drawn back
by the delicate wisp of breath.
Others are bitten off
stalled by a thought,
a look...
that look!
A tooth gripping soft red.
Released, the cherry
lips fall back in place.

Another butterfly flees my chest.
2.9k · Dec 2014
-Damn-
AMcQ Dec 2014
Your leeward left lays
steeped in shadows,
as a perfect line flickers
outlining your silhouette.
Incandescent light makes
porcelain of your skin.
Its honest touch embraces
you with artificial moonbeams,
airbrushed and pale.
I watch your chest rise,
as you inhale the
atmosphere you have
created with your presence.
2.8k · Nov 2014
-Stare-
AMcQ Nov 2014
Sounds echo;
distant...
mundane...
My eyes are aware
but not looking.
No focus.
No sight.
I've stepped out
and no one even knows

I wonder where I went...
2.5k · Aug 2015
Pen and Paper
AMcQ Aug 2015
I love the look of words
written down line by line;
their flirtatious teasing
along feint ruled ivory.
The gentle drop of letters
below unrestricting lines;
the emotion immortalised
in each cross and dot.
Most of all, I admire
the finality:
the beauteous dedication
and commitment
of that pen... to this paper.
This was written August 2014 before I set off on the Camino de Santiago
2.4k · Jan 2015
-Casting Shadows- (Limerick)
AMcQ Jan 2015
There was once a flickering flame,
Its rising heat causing no pain.
But a shadow it cast,
telling tales from her past.
Now she runs to escape it in vain.
I should note the interesting muse behind this. On my desk in work today, sat a candle and some painkillers, both back-lit by a frustrating, flickering, fluorescent light. Funny how little things fall together. Needless to say, escape was not an option.
2.3k · Nov 2014
-Dust-
AMcQ Nov 2014
Darkness plots and plans in hiding.
Shadows whisper undisturbed.
The next room, below the floor;
It cowers behind all we can see.


But light!
A renegade strand of you,
finding but a keyhole
ignites the dark.

Dust dances with your touch...
1.9k · Nov 2014
-Blossoms-
AMcQ Nov 2014
I stop and inhale,
drawn in by the beauty
of cherry blossoms
and discarded petals.
Like confetti
dancing in a soothing
Spring breeze,
they celebrate
the arrival of Sun.
Twigs unfold seeking
light;
like new-born fingers
loosening grip
and spreading out
into tiny reaching
hands.
Springtime in South Dublin
1.9k · Jul 2015
-What is a poem?-
AMcQ Jul 2015
What is a poem?
A lilting of words?
An image of voices
forever unheard?
What's this picture of symbols
all ordered in lines?
What's this rare combination?
Did it take her much time?
What makes the pattern
or rhyme start to flow?
What sets it apart
from the prose or the scroll?
Is it empathy recalling
some rose-tinted dream?
Maybe it's laced in darkness
the vile or obscene?
What is a poem?
Some words written with tone?
What are these lyrics
Sung straight from my bones?
1.8k · Nov 2014
-Yearning-
AMcQ Nov 2014
Shaking, tossing, turning,
Stomach knotted; churning,
Light of day I'm yearning,
Darkness fades for you.

Raging, pulsing, chasing
Heart is pounding; racing.
Creaking boards I’m pacing.
Make haste morning dew.

Stirring, calming, slowing,
Curtains lightened; glowing
Misty solace growing,
My mind returns, renewed.
1.8k · Dec 2014
-Empathy-
AMcQ Dec 2014
I have conjured up
an aversion to empathy.
It only opens the heart,
awarding her influence
over the mind.



*I know how she feels.
1.8k · Jan 2015
-Beneath-
AMcQ Jan 2015
I look down at the arcs of white;
at the tattered bows which skirt my fingernails.
They signal the very edge of my extremities.
Each one with unique imperfections
owed to the muck and dirt lodged underneath.
They're hideous; soiled and grotesque from
digging deeper into my love affair with mortality -
my lust for the knowledge of what happens
when we are 6 feet below sun-lights' reach.
1.7k · Nov 2014
-Fabric-
AMcQ Nov 2014
My left leg
is draped
across my right.
I know that
pretty soon
the pins and needles
will take hold.
Starting in the
fold behind my knee
and slithering into
a tiring ankle.
I don't much mind.
The rhythmic shake of
a nervous left foot
is mirrored,
as my right hand
finds my lip
and feels in earnest
for a loose flake
of dry skin
to pry off.
It will probably hurt.
I don't much mind.
I've fixed my eyes on
an empty stool,
analyzing the pattern.
Imagining the feel.
Imagining you;
What you'll say
when you get here.
To be honest...

I don't much mind.
1.7k · Jul 2015
-Curiosity-
AMcQ Jul 2015
I'm forever fighting
the urge,
the want,
the neeeed,
to know the
source code of your
silence;
To see the matrix
of your thoughts.
To know how your feelings
color them.
1.7k · Jul 2015
-Wither-
AMcQ Jul 2015
The
distorted
feather of
cigarette
                 smoke
                                         trails
                              upwards.
             It dances
                                    on the
                                             first
                       wisp of wind;
escaping
                 the draw
                                 of cracked
                weasened
lips.
Lips
formed of
                                      withered apple skin
                                                         and stale coffee;
                                            of puckered
                         mouth
              and deep
inhales.
                             Hunched shivering
                                                       shoulders hoist a
                                                                                            shaky hand
                                                                                          toward the
                                                                                    face.
                                                A raspy exhale releases
                        another puff of smoky breath.
The icy air exaggerates
the capacity of old
and tiring lungs.

I foresee this rarely preempted fate.


I quit!
1.5k · Dec 2014
-Linen-
AMcQ Dec 2014
You take my
   favorite breath
   from me.
   The one I
   draw through
   sweet smelling
   hair, splayed
    on fresh linen;
   when the curve
  of my arm
   and the crease
   of your neck
  agree.
1.4k · Dec 2014
-Camino-
AMcQ Dec 2014
It seems so far from here and now,
Both in distance and in kind.
That place I found, through winding ways;
The time when I cared not for time.

When shadows stretched meant day was new
And as they shortened haste was made.
Butterflies played and danced and flew,
Distracting minds in need of shade.

Pain in toes and knees and hips
Dissolved all ailments of the head.
Stories poured from sun kissed lips.
Easing aches in time for bed.

I wandered back to times gone by
To grief, to love; so bittersweet.
I played them out, I laughed, I cried-
To the echoed fall of dusty feet.

In all the things I've so far learned,
Of all the 'me' I've yet to know
I've found that peace and calm is earned
Through open minds, on unknown roads.

And if the names, the talks, the places;
If they try to fade with time
I'll think of all the smiling faces;
Kindest hearts, now kept in mine.
In July of this year, I walked 350km of the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain. A beautifully moving and life altering experience. This is a little memory of that journey.
1.3k · Nov 2014
-Strings-
AMcQ Nov 2014
If your heart
truly had strings,
I would wear my
fingertips raw
in search of your melody.
1.3k · Feb 2015
-The Creature in Me-
AMcQ Feb 2015
Down in the depths of a wilderness;
the derangement of **** and of wisp.
A creature is arched in a hunker
over bundled leaves; golden and crisp.

Its' blistered hands riddled with splinters
Its' tired face blackened by dirt.
Its' glowing and warm disposition,
Worn pale by commotion and hurt.

It is wary from cold and from torment;
the dark of the forests damp chill.
But it scuffs at the bones as with tinder
igniting the marrow with skill.

Wiping its' brow with its' forearm
the creature desists with a gasp
Smoke trails up through the forest.
A spark has alighted at last.

The flame inhales fallen pine cones;
blazing up through the bramble and briar.
Excitement and fear harmonizing,
'till their voices can't sing any higher;

'till the heart is consumed by her fire.
1.3k · Oct 2016
-Alive-
AMcQ Oct 2016
Stand me still in swaying grass
on the crest of a smooth esker.
Numb my ears to synthetic noise
so I can embrace the earthly chorus;
Green blades clashing swordlike.
The creak of trees, rooted in the battle.
The flip and twist of a passing bluebottle;
Awkward and disorientated.
Let me breathe deep the same wind
that lends herself to these instruments.
Let me hear the crackle of sun on skin;
The sound of hair electrified,
The thud of chemicals leaping across synapses.

Let me feel truly alive.
1.2k · Jan 2016
-Filter-
AMcQ Jan 2016
A monochrome film plays
Over and over.
To a singular audience.
It rewinds.
Pauses.
Fast-forwards.
It sticks on one frame
Over and over.
In the scene
It's me, lost in a
Labyrinth.
It's walls lit with
projected clips
of a monochrome film.
Playing.
Over and over.
1.2k · Feb 2015
-Behind Eyelids-
AMcQ Feb 2015
Soft-footed and delicate,
you tip toed your way into
my head last night.
Having scaled warm cheekbones
you pried apart my eyelashes;
teased apart my flickering eye lids.
Stepping under the soft pink canopy,
you found a nook.
Curling up, you pulled closed
wafer thin skin, to keep you safe;
to make sure that
even while dead to this world
you are all I see.
1.2k · Nov 2014
-Skipped-
AMcQ Nov 2014
My soul is dense,
Saturated with tears
spilt and caught within.
Like rainwater
they seep into the depths
avoiding the external cascade.
But this will subside!
I know it will...
As I take in your form
skipped heartbeats make
ripples of the dark pool.
The dark turns to mist
and curls off in your breeze.
1.2k · Jan 2017
Lazy
AMcQ Jan 2017
Lazy cares not for sleep,
Contrary to popular belief.
It cares not for the easy life.
Lazy is forever catching up.
Lazy cares not for rest.
Her mind is racing; exhausted.
She hurls herself over the finish line,
EVERY time...
To embrace the other procrastinators.
1.2k · Jan 2015
-Codeine-
AMcQ Jan 2015
I feel like a photograph.
One taken of myself
while I was moving too quickly.
The shutter didn't capture me
with defined crisp outline.
A blur of me chases my every move.
A clinging specter.
A lingering sensory experience.
A light trail, as I head towards the dark;
as I leave you behind.
1.1k · May 2016
-The Deep-
AMcQ May 2016
Now and then,
the dark wave comes.
She loosens my grip on
what dwells above the surface.
Finger by finger and all at once.
Her beautiful irony.
Her tragic existence.
She wants only to embrace me
but her touch is toxic.
Enveloped by her, I am paralyzed;
momentarily in hindsight,
yet eternally in that moment.
Then, as quickly as her curving crest appeared,
she is gone.
Dissolved into thick blue ocean,
She crawls back into the beauty of the deep.

Until next time...
1.1k · Dec 2014
-Vostok-
AMcQ Dec 2014
A locked lake lies lonely,
deep beneath ice and snow.
Pieces of past still present
in delicate misty glow.
We wish to wake it.
We wish to know it.
I wish they'd leave it alone.

I think my mind calls it home.
Lake Vostok is the largest sub-glacial lake in Antarctica. The surface of the fresh water lake is around 4,000m under the surface of the ice. Scientists are keen to see what kind of living museum could have survived for the thousands of years that the lake could have existed. It's pretty amazing!
1.1k · Mar 2016
"Normal"...
AMcQ Mar 2016
It is an irony
to finally find yourself
only to realise
you are utterly
lost
in normality.
1.1k · Jan 2015
-Fortress-
AMcQ Jan 2015
Oh gone are the days of white sheets draped on propped up cushions;
Of safety in delicate, wavering structures only strengthened by imagination.

This fort is of unseen iron, steel and girders - bound and secured by all of my insecurity.
1.1k · Aug 2015
The "1"
AMcQ Aug 2015
I will not try to find
'the one'.
I will search for the
one thousand and one
things in you,
that lead me to
find myself.
1.1k · Nov 2015
The Missing One
AMcQ Nov 2015
I am without poetry;
Without verse or rhyme.
I am cleansed of all torture;
Have no concept of time.

No longer frantic,
nor riddled with woe.
I have fled from self-pity
to a land of unknowns.

A space so reckless,
it tickles the skin.
My demeanour is calm
but I'm woozy within.

Love rushes to greet him,
palms slippy and warm.
Relieved that my body
Still longs for those arms.

Heat flows round the shadows;
My soul's once more kissed.
But I've been without poetry;
She's the one that I've missed.
1.1k · Jan 2017
-Cavern-
AMcQ Jan 2017
There are depths within you
To which I cannot reach.
Where water drips
and echos in an
obscure cavern.
Where each drop leaves behind
its narrative,
on the pore from which it fell.
A story untold.
The vast space makes echoes of heartbeats.
But deafening silence resonated,
the day your heart skipped but one.
1.1k · Dec 2014
-Raider-
AMcQ Dec 2014
The space between each breath and beat,
is vacant now, a hollowed nest.
Where once wings fluttered soft and meek,
dust now settles down to rest.

The raider knew not of my plight.
With twisted key, she opened wide
the place where butterflies take flight;
the cage in which my heart resides.

The butterflies they danced and flew.
Some filled the mouth with words unsaid.
But lips were sealed, so numbers grew;
the crowding forced them out instead.

The ripple of their wings fell still,
their sprightly quiver fled my chest.
She drew them out, with time and skill.
I spat out love; truth wrapped in jest.        
                          
When all was said, the flutter waned
From love to hate, the din grew weak.
Though her hold lessened, her face remained
in the space between each breath and beat.
1.1k · Nov 2014
-Pacified-
AMcQ Nov 2014
I am but pacified in your presence;
Relieved by your absence;
Broken by your existence
and in awe at your soul.
1.0k · Jan 2015
-Ink Well-
AMcQ Jan 2015
I am the quill;
fleeting and energetic.
You are the consistent
flowing ink.
Your color knows
not of bounds.
In the inkwell we dance
You enveloping me.
Me, steeped in you.
Alone, we are but
pointed feather
and darkness.
Together, our stories
emerge from curved letters
on old, worn pages.
1.0k · Dec 2014
-Rock-
AMcQ Dec 2014
A malady of spirit has taken up residence
somewhere in the gut.
Its' presence is announced by hollow sounds
and the falter of hands.
Beneath puckered brow, my jaw has tightened.
Clenched. Rigid.
I float on inflated irony, somewhere in the gap between
nostalgia and regret.
Like a flat rock meant to skim the surface...
I've been flung too hard by a lazy grip.
I look towards the surface as sunlight fades from view.

I know now why it's called
'rock bottom'.
I was throwing stones into the sea this weekend and this came together :)
1.0k · Jan 2015
-Headlights-
AMcQ Jan 2015
Ever catch yourself
caught between
the light and dark?

Has the stark contrast
blinded you, both
from lack of
and abundance of
luminescence.

Ever rounded a night corner
and prayed that the road
materialises beyond you;
that it follows the path
the very way you
imagine it?

And have you ever felt utterly ALIVE in that
frantic millisecond of uncertainty?

I have.
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