A flick and toss
Is no win nor loss
If the coin remains in your hand

Heads and tails
Never fails
If you allow the coin to land

So give a throw
You never know
What destiny has planned

“No strings attached”
said the flute to the violin

“Nothing to pick on”
said the piano to the harp

“Nothing to fret about “
said the drum to the guitar

“Nothing to dance about”
said the minstrel to the musician

If only you could
put the volume down
to your abrasive cutting sounds
you would hear me bleeding

If only you could
put the volume down
to your suffocating exhausting sounds
you would hear me breathing

If only you could
put the volume down
to your mourning wailing sounds
you would hear me crying

a
   poem
      hides a
     secret within a
    letter or placing of
     a word look carefully
           and intent-fully
                   a secret you may have
                heard examine it ever closely
                       what’s preferred
                  or inferred if you
         open read it slowly
     it may fly out
like a
bird

One night
before I went to bed
while dusting my books
One by one
counting the ones
I had read
I came across
a book from you
I had it all along
I wish I knew

Chapters I never gleamed
Pages I’d never seen
About places
I’d never been
Experiences I never had
Things I never heard
and to add to that
a bookmark
with your name
and a blue bird

And out slipped
a photo of me
As I flipped
the cover to see
The title
And there was you
You fell out
from the book too

Two photos torn
separated by scorn
placed in pages of a book
Between the worn covers
were torn lovers
and It never dawned
for me to ever look

my words come with no music
so you can just read them
the way you hear them

just like the way they’re spoken
unbroken, by the melody of the moon

my words have many fingers
so you can hold them
as you seldom do

and truth lingers unspoken
till you hear me, feel me
a wordless tune

I’m making money
quoting Shakespeare
smoke filled rooms
a dim lit theatre
I’m glad the man’s dead
he’d be asking for part
memorised in my head
was drunk from his heart
I’m making it by
on a dead crowd stage
I’m a poet making money
on a dead man’s wage

My girl likes little things
not the big things of value
or baggy big like Jeans
But short skirts and tight tops
Little shorts and flip flops
with high hopes,
but little dreams

My girl likes little things
Not big things or deep
Little things like lipstick
The comments on her self pics
The brand of her breeches  
The right lace on her sneakers
My girl likes little things
Not the things
too heavy to keep

My girl likes little things
Not the big and the weighty
Just the little things shiny
like an iPhone glittering
the right tone on the dial ring
a cover case with the right bling
Almost everything
And anything
not significantly big

My girl likes little things
nothing seriously grand
little things, like small talk
A nice sweet short walk
Even holding hands
among other little things
If there’s room for my fingers
beside her diamond rings

“Look after your Soul”,
that old preacher would say
Cherish with your life
or it may wither away
Take care, to take care
and guard it well
Lest it becomes so sickly
it’s fit only for Hell

Will our love be strong
and stronger still
and never know till we love
and love till we do
will our hate destroy
and destroy the will
no doubt it may
and may indeed ****
so love me now
and hold me forever
and never leave me
You and me and ever.

a sower of seeds
brought me to my knees
by a swift smell of a flower
he promised to sell
the seeds of it’s smell
if I’d water it every hour
I said i‘ll give it the sun
if he gave me just one
more smell of its aroma
he asked why not have all?
and need not ask anymore
when you hold and harness it’s power
I said, if that be the case for my soul
give me not in part but the whole
and I’ll grant it an eternal shower
and so he planted as he went
the seed of its scent
into the soil of my heart
forever

an echo
could not recognise
it’s own voice
it got stuck
in a canyon
between
reason and choice
screaming
all the more louder
it threw out a rhyme
no one dared to respond
or cared to reply
for none heard such a poem
nor the voice
that was mine

I’m living the life
now that my wife
has moved on to another man
My kids are grown
now left all alone
I’m doing as I want and I can

I please no one
and then when I’m done
I only please myself
I eat when I want
whether I drink or I don’t
I serve nobody else

My neighbours a bore
they hear that I snore
but I don’t care a bit
My gardens my pride
trees hang on their side
and I spy on them from where I sit

The police on my back
parking fines in a stack
on the mantle above the fire
I ***** on scotch
every hour of my watch
I dare ya to call me a liar

My mum is my care
she’s always been there
in a nursing home now with Dementia
She brags, her boys the best
I tattood her on my chest
it’s always been a love of hers I betcha

I drive the old truck
and just my luck
the astray on the dash still works
I pick up my Betty
she’s dolled up and pretty
and take her for a night of beef jerks

A man’s got no mates
when he does what he hates
look at me living and licking it up
like my dog named ‘Bloke’
and it ain’t no joke
named him ‘Bloke Jr.’ when just a pup

I’m as good as it gets
placing my bets
on a horse or a grey or a ****
I’m not much of a convo
but what do you know
when I win I talk off your sock

Give me a minute
I’m not here to win it
I’m just good at what I do
They say life favours some
I happened to be one
and It’s unfortunate that you are you

Nah…I’m just kidding
I’m actually just bidding
all the chances I have on me
So far so good
knock on wood
I’m loving life and happy as Larry

Then said Almitra, Speak to us of Love.
     And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said:
     When love beckons to you, follow him,
     Though his ways are hard and steep.
     And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
     Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
     And when he speaks to you believe in him,
     Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

     For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
     Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
     So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
     Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself
     He threshes you to make your naked.
     He sifts you to free you from your husks.
     He grinds you to whiteness.
     He kneads you until you are pliant;
     And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.

     All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart.

     But if in your heart you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
     Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor,
     Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
     Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
     Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
     For love is sufficient unto love.

     When you love you should not say, “God is in my heart,” but rather, “I am in the heart of God.”
     And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

     Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.
     But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
     To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
     To know the pain of too much tenderness.
     To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
     And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
     To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
     To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
     To return home at eventide with gratitude;
     And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

don’t blink at that moment
where the world stops to stare
don’t blink for a moment
as though you don’t care
keep your eyes on the prize
keep your gaze up there
where light is the brightest
and the dark elsewhere
don’t blink for a second
gaze straight if you dare
don’t turn for a minute
from that blinding glare
don’t squint, like flint
no matter how bright
at the piercing, don’t blink
and out stare the light

this world holds no secrets like you
the ocean can’t tell it
nor the shells can spell it
nor the wind can blow it
nor will I tell it too

this world holds no secrets like you
the dreamers don’t show it
the poets don’t know it
the sleepers can’t find it
nor will I tell it too

this world holds no secrets like you
the night won’t unveil it
the moon won’t howl it
the stars can’t fault it
nor will I tell it too

That feeling, that you are alone
should remind many, not some
that all people are alone
and you’re not the only one
that feeling when you’re lonely
is not the experience of a few
so therefore, no one is really alone
when we’re all lonely too

You can’t shift or shake me
but you can wake me
with your eyes

You can’t mould or make me
but you can break me
with your eyes

You can’t tie or stake me
but you can take me
with your eyes.

She asked me to write her a poem,
this is what I wrote…

She dreams of winter winds
that blow her breath and smiles
She likes the simple things
like walks, talks and style
and when she asks me for my time
I know she’s only teasing
she knows that without her love
I could not go on singing

For this reason then,
she told me to sing a song
and this is what I sang…

My voice is not the song of kings
nor any angel will heed my cry
But of all the sweetest things I bring
the sound of silence I will try
Not to strangle the loudest tear
or hang a hope of sky
As long as my love she loves me
before the day my love does die

She told me then to tell a tale
one that will never end…

Allow me to turn you into a book
I’ll breathe your story into the breeze
turn the pages of your eyes  
and whisper waves among the seas
Let them leave your soil of sorrow
Let them fill your dug up hole
find some shade within the shadow
where branches green within your soul

She stares weakly at the rest of me,
and asks, “Are there no other words
you keep?”

I look into her dying eyes
words take her final breath

My love lies down to sleep

In death there is no fear
neither is there in pain
compared to such a treachery
than putting one to open shame
many a thing they may endure
but poke at the pride engrained
you’ll bind and break their spirit
when speaking evil of their name

“I feel so sad”, she sad.

“Someone’s muzzled happiness and locked her in a basement”, I replied.
“You just need to find her”.

“What if I found her dead?”, she asked.

”Then realise this one thing…
…it took you to be alive,
to distinguish that which is dead”.

Some kids hide in attics
some in the wooden shed outside
a hide away,
away from trouble  
and leave the world aside

but when I was younger
I’d hide up on the roof
leaving them below to wonder
“Where’d he go, just ****!”

but, “I’m just here, aunt Molly!”
here at the top, way up high
pretending I had wings
and a little closer to the sky

peering down on people passing
writing poetry on the roof
watching the world below me changing
still high and still aloof

till that day I come down wondering
where’d all the people go?
now that I’m much the more older
I’d really like to know

Life won’t wait for you
to wake up from your pain
Don’t wait till your happy
to learn to live again
Run further than your fears
Through that open door fast
Jump the hurdles in your mind
reminding you of the past
Don’t look back behind you
Keep your head held up high
Know when you can’t keep up
Hope, won’t leave you there to die