How did we forget to know
The souls of all but human beings?
When did we stop listening
To language different
To the one we speak with ease?

Those elders knew, they were involved
With nature, not apart
They worked together
Until the witch hunts,
And before capitalism ate art...

And medicine, and childbirth,
Marriage, communities;
Profit would too much be capped
If common people lived their lives
With love and empathy

Because some they feared the awe they felt; the danger sensed in crushing
Waters, crumbling rock, and the power
Of biting jaws and ripping claws
Over small **** energy imposing

So they taught us to ignore the souls
Of rocks and stones and moss and trees...
We're taught to value human life
Above all that nurtures us -
Even clearly animated beings

And still amongst these human lives
Are some more valuable than others,
Categorised by colour or class,
Gender, size, way of life,
Or simply their choice if lovers

They re-wrote the myths of first beginnings
To omit other beings, except where they placed
Them only as antagonists
To bring ruin and shame upon our bodies
And eternal servitude we've faced

Modern Christianity pervades here
And other poison ideologies -
Not Jesus' way but the opposite...
Organised religion serves only to prop
Up our capitalist economies

You can't contain me
Or tame me.
I'll let you play
And you'll be charmed....
It's too easy.

I might even get attached.

Oxytocin, dopamine
Flushing through our bloodstreams,
But eventually
I'll break free
'Cause I want to be
All of me,
Not a watered-down
Accessory
For you to feed off
My energy. No,
Yours I will never be.

I am an ocean,
Not a calm see
With boundless possibilities
And strength below
That you can't see...
Changing,
Always changing.
Fluid;
Moved by the moon,
Stirred by the weather,
Out of your control
And free of your tether.

A chameleon
I've become
Self taught
To blend
And quietly fade
Or to POP
Stand out
Impress

I know the tricks
But not myself
I know the types
And what they like -
But what I like
My memory fades

Not fades
But blocks
It's there
Deep down
And now I search
And some I've found
Are things of which
I have had fear
For years and years...
Buried like gold
For my thirty-year-old
Self to discover

What joy
In finding joy
In such small things.
Joy and
Openness of being

What use have I
For one true love
When I feel loved
By the moon above?
Love is all around and in
Love is joy and peace and sin
Love is want
Of no-thing
Love is connection
With everything;
Not just
One other
Now and forever
Never to be shared
With any others...
Love cannot be possessed
And possession cannot be
Love.

Love is life
Love is knowing
That that life
Fuels every
Rock
Bird
Tree
Cell

To realise
That we are not special;
Not you
Not me
And not your lover
All of us
Just like any other
Humbling
Heartbreaking
Love.

It's here
underneath
behind the signs
of Private -
Keep Out
The Spirit
is here
Older than  woman
stronger than man
wiser than rulers
unphased
unaltered
life

I want to be outside in that sky

Summertime, so free, so high

Four walls are my captivity

This roof overhead contains me

I have so much to release, to give,
To share, to sing, to dance, to live!

So let me outside in that sky

Summertime, so free, so high

I've ripped out my own heart
Each time, still more;
Taking a hammer and chisel to chest...
Till now I see that what will be left
Is all of me that was before
But without those walls that did obscure

I speak with a rythm
And sometimes in rhyme
I like alliteration
But I'm rarely in time

I wish I didn't stammer
Or fumble my words;
The English language
Is not my preferred

It has it's restrictions
In poem and prose
In emotive expression
And so I have chose

To speak with my body
And not with my tongue
Or sometimes in image
Where feelings belong

Coming up
Reminds me of
University...
Waiting for the high to hit
Never enough
Never as good
As last time.
The new discovery
An addiction
To new discoveries.
Never satisfied
In that
All-too-comfortable
Bubble

Thank the devil for his lettuce
Thank the heavens for their tears,
Which drown out my own,
Giving light to my soul
And transforming all of my fears

I made it into Fern Land,
The deepest dark of the wood…
What's there that lies down here
They say we never should

Meddle or interfere with;
The nettle or the grub,
Not trees and not the ivy,
Not tick or grass or shrub.

"If people keep on meddling...!"
Shouted angry Puck,
And stamped his usually cheerful feet
And the mighty oak tree shook.

Puck continued, thunderous loud:
"You wait and see our luck;
Our homes will not long be exchanged
For flats, that them rich *****

"Like to keep all sparkling clean
And empty as a bubble...
For assets, don't you know, not homes!
This, my friends, is the trouble.

"Now, if money didn’t rule their world -
Our crazy human doubles -
They'd appreciate, like we do all,
That they don't need all this hubble.

"What a blindfold are these dollar bills!
That stop them seeing; all they need
To be happy, healthy and prosperous
Comes through strong communities.

"And not just ones of your own kind
Excluding other beings…
We've lived alongside each other
For tens of thousands of years!"


The crows and magpies, foxes, rats
The pigeons too, of course,
All shouted out in dear support
For their human friends and thought:

"Without those messy, greedy ones
Who buy more than they ought,
And throw the bits they cannot eat,
Our food stores would run short!"

"Whose news have you been listening to
My brainwashed forest folk?
You know **** well they tell you that
So that we here don't revolt!

"They treat you with disdain or pity,
Or want to keep you like a colt
Who lives but only half a life -
Unless they dare to bolt.

"Listen to each other now
And take in what you see...
Trust your fellow forest friends,
And you too can be free!

"It's something we must do together:
No man is an island, and nor is a tree.
All creatures here, we must have sign
That on this we agree:

That they must stop their tribal games
And fights for territory -
Terra is not theirs to own;
It belongs to every being.

They can't divide and conquer us
And if they try, they'll see -
The only option left to us;
Our wrath, on them, unleashed!"


Well I was in a sticky patch.
Oh, what was it to be?!
I did agree with Puck alright -
But what would become of me...

If I betrayed my human friends
For these ones to go free,
Would their blood then be on my hands?
What would become of me?

There was only one option left -
An obvious one really....
What if I could unite my people
Like these people in the trees?

What if they all thought,
And could picture perfectly,
That it was really possible
To have love and joy and peace?

And to have all that above without
The thing that we call money...
That there's more power in something else:
It's called community.

Let's stop those corporations,
With too much cheese already,
And distribute their gains
Amongst the poor and needy.

Let's think about our values
And not our property,
Let's take charge and make our own rules
Not live by others' shoddy,

Grim idea of what life's worth
Without having lived at all -
Or only a very privileged life,
So big that others seem small

As small they treat us, don't you see?
They WANT us all to fall,
So that they can pick us up again
And make four feet feel tall

Let's band together, all of us
United, organised,
To march on them and let them know
We're no longer satisfied.

Nor will it ever be enough
To eat the crumbs of their pie;
Not even a big fat slice
If it's not a fair divide

The energy of Puck
Ignited my insides;
For my efforts, courage
And certainty inspired:

The truth I must go out and spread
And nevermore shall I hide
Behind my privilege,
That sees the facts denied,

That forgets about so many,
Not noticing the lies;
Those convenient untruths
That turn our blind eyes.

And if the truth is difficult
And my humans, they deny,
And say they rather like
Eating the crumbs of that big pie…

That crumbs are the best part!
And if we beg we might get more.
Why cause trouble, rock the boat -
What you're saying is war!

War is not an option,
And that we'll see first-hand:
The wave that takes us there will melt
Their castles made of sand.

I'll say not war, but peace
Is what we will demand.
And if you doubt our human strength
Then with the forest we'll band:

I ventured into fern land…
And at that I'll hear them gasp!
The lure of the forest
Is something some can't grasp.

But if they went, they'd understand,
When the woods take off their mask;
The leaves, they whisper in the wind
And the magic, it would last.

I'll tell them how the forest
Is angry and upset
That those who go to visit there
Rarely show respect.

They worry for our humankind
That we're too easily led,
And silenced into endorsement
Of all sorts of crazy ****.

Their homes are due to be destroyed -
Imagine if that was you?
And not to house the needy, no!
But to keep governments blue,

So their rich friends can own yet
Another piece of cheese.
They don’t care about us, no!
They'd rather see us freeze.

We suffer here with no safe homes
while they live a life of ease,
And the forest creatures, just like us,
Will have to scavenge on the streets.

Their trouble is the same as ours -
We all want the same things!
So why not join with them
And see what change it brings?

Let's trust each other, take a chance...
It has to be better than this!
And if not for you, then think of another
Who's suffering you missed

One who suffered prejudice,
Whose hand at the deal was worse;
Let's join all as family
And together lift this curse

We can write a new story
Where life and soul come first;
The soul is always equal,
No matter how big your purse.

Let's put our heads together
And try some different things
We'll get it wrong, sure! Once or twice,
But our aim is to have wings…

Let's keep that always in our sights -
Freedom to dance and sing,
And be ourselves in harmony -
Back to life us we will bring!

The morning,
The morning is mine

To savour
It's splendor,
To bathe in its light,
Or sit in the artificial dark
And comfort of my bed.

I rise early
To keep it
All to myself

My lady drifted in her boat
She’s often there
Depths or shallows, fighting afloat

Time had rotted the wooden planks
They could not bear
Against the water, so they drank

In I plunged, futile thought I;
Done is the harm…
Till metal brushed upon my thigh  

The chain it landed in my hands,
My blacksmith arm
Trained and ready for this demand