I tried
you lied
you tried
I lied
between
the trying
and
the lying
somehow
somewhere
in between
the lying and
the trying
somehow
somewhere
love
started
dying.

I am nothing
If I am not
A quarter square
of this
round family

I inhale  you
your love
oxygen to
my weary bones

This is your tomorrow
please
live it with me.

I don’t know who
I  should be
without you
come home
and teach me

Do not inch towards me
if you cannot fight for me
I have been here
too many
times
My boundaries well defined
my edges sharp and fine
Do not inch towards me
Unless you are certain
you are prepared
To bleed before you dine

Words flow from me
he said
I can write a poem
without a thought
Words escape me
I said
I can’t write a poem
with a thought

I have lived here now
for such a long time
on the outskirts
of you

I will trade you
my sadness
for your smile

in a lifetime
of forgotten words
somehow
I remember  yours,

I have been searching this house all night
just can’t find anything worthwhile
a couple of memories
an odd laugh
a lot of pain in the kitchen
a lost birthday cake behind the sofa
a summer party shoved under a bed
a new start
rotting and forgotten
hidden randomly
beneath a a pile of broken hearts

The world is
not about
you and me
Much as we try to make it be
It’s bigger
and better
and about way
more important things
Than
simply
You
And
Me
and who we are desperately trying to
be

You left
without
conversation  
walked away
without
persuasion

You are a
beautiful example
of what happens
when privilege
has a conscience

Clarity is everything
When you can see clearly
When you can’t
It is simply a word
Tumbling around on someone else’s
Tongue

call me a fool
if I have said too much
I have been called more
from the ones I love
for thinking this much

I ask you to hear me
you say you do
and I believe you try
but you listen
with light ears
so the weight of my words
don’t keep you awake
all night.

I am about
two minutes away
from falling in love
with you

I don’t know anyone
who is seventy
and thanks be to ****
neither do you !

The first little humans
who taught me that  I could
love
anyone
anywhere
anytime
anyhow
either way
whatever way
forever stay
it was you
all five of
you
so
Thank you

I have so much time
for those who are not
afraid
they live out loud
while I whisper my truth
from somewhere behind the
cloud.

this dance
has not been easy
you are heavy
on your feet
and I
too light sometimes
and yet
I will dance
this awkward dance
with you
a hundred times
and more
and then
a hundred times
again
and still more.

I once knew a boy
Who laughed out loud
That’s how I found  him
In a dreary crowd!

do you love
love
or just the
notion of
falling into  
something
that looks
a  lot like
what love
should look
a lot like
if you knew
what love looks
like
is that what
your love would
look like?  😁

when everybody left
you stayed
I like that
in a human

Yesterday fuels
Tomorrow
no matter how we fight
today excuses yesterday
no matter how we fight
every day
lays claim to both
No matter how we fight

I know you feel like
you are falling
and failing
and you might be right
but you have such a long way
to go
I won’t reach out
and bring you home
yet….

We have a little strand of
paradise
fragile
silvery
beautiful
rare
barely ours
hardly touch it
don’t strain
do not breath
or it will surely
break
into tiny fragments
of what our paradise
was supposed to
be

I am absolutely nothing
Without the rest of you
Picking me up
Dusting me down
Carrying my pain
Propping me up
And keeping me
Sane

How many people
do you honestly
really seriously really
really love
in the world
tonight
count then
on one hand
if you can
how many?
cherish them
and love them
tonight
or tomorrow
if you can.

Stay
exactly as you are
Stay
right where you are
Stay true
Stay blue
You’re doing okay
Stay strong
Stay wrong
Stay true
to who you are
Stay you
Stay exactly where you are

I was happy
deep in my heart
the first night I knew you
the knew of you
still
flows
effortlessly
all over me

I will forget my words for tonight
the heavy in my heart
for at least one night
I will dance with you
barefoot
although it feels like broken glass
still
for at least one night
I will dance with you
tonight

this life is a privilege
but my god,
we pay for it
in tears.

Who in the world
gets to sit and watch
the sun go down
in their own back yard
light glistening on the sea
and their love go down
with every move
of the money market
just me
I guess

don’t look to me for honesty
for honestly
not sure if I can give it
don’t look to me to truth
for truthfully
not sure if I understand it
don’t look to me for love
for lovingly
I’ll decline it.

give me a reason
just one
even a little one
a pebble
if you will
then maybe
just maybe
I will change
it only takes a truth
at least half of one
to turn
desperation
into hope.

Let the first one
amongst us
without sin
Throw the first stone
My god
Look at the queue!

apparently America
wants Canada
**** me
What will America want next
Me and you?

we flit around
like  butterflies
feelings
like circles of smoke
disappear upon touch
emotions
like breath on a freezing morning
visible but unwelcome
we flit around
from table to table
words
like confetti at a wedding
abundant but never heard.

I am a mother
You are a son
Isn’t it about time
Our life begun?

you speak words
the world cannot
stand

I have a gift
a superpower if you will
I can cry
without tears.

After all
the love was cleared  away
the laughter and the joy
two hundred people
sweeping
all our dreams away
into black plastic sacks
smiling as they worked
never knowing the slack
yet smiling  knowingly
at our lack
even  after all that
we still
drove home
celebrated our success
Yes
unbelievably
even
knowing all that
we celebrated our success.

I
seriously suspect
this is what love
is supposed to be
you and me
No questions
No answers
I seriously suspect
this is what love
was always meant to
be
If only
they knew

I will pick up the pieces
sweep the pain away
decorate the hall
just as it was before
wallpaper over the feelings
clean the horror from the ceiling
but I can’t promise
there will be
a speedy
healing

She reminds me everyday
of who I used to be
and how much I had
to say
What joy!

and then
the music stopped
and so did we
who knew?
certainly, not me

if I lived
in a wide and expansive
field of cherries
I would wade out
walk the field
cut the cud
stay out all night
until I found
my friend laurence
there are bunches of cherries
everywhere
but , come on
let me be honest
Laurence's
are a little bit more
rare

There’s a whole lot of nothing
happening in this house
Tonight