You can do this
not because, you are able
nor because you are strong
because without this
you remain the same
and this,
gives you permission
for change
to become the new you
everyday

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

Three poets
rot down a river bed
their body decomposing
except their head
still composing poetry
and recite being dead
where poems still flow
I’ve heard them read

one was caught
by the sun beam
flickering ripples of light

another fought
by a splashing bream
kicking up a fight

the third flowed down
the rapid stream
where water foams white

I, one day went fishing
and caught myself a fish
down the river swimming
quoting Tennyson
Dickinson and Finch
I set it free
because poetry is freeing
Not every line in the end
is a hook
three dead poets can testify
down by the brook

I wonder if a poem
can cause
you to pause
just at the title
and then sigh
and in wonder why
something so powerful
can be so wonderful
that you forget
to read or need
anything more
beautiful
than this
to cry

Today I will fall inlove
because tomorrow may never come
I’ll pick daisies in the form of your name
I’ll plant the scent of invisible roses in our minds
like eternal gardens created for us before time  
I’ll place a cup of coffee beside our first greeting of ‘hello’

Today I will fall in love
because poetry cannot satisfy
I’ll carry the books of poets you devour
hold them close in the library called my heart
I’ll write the letters you’d never read,
because if you read them you’d fall in love
with my tears not my eyes
Today, I’ll place them beneath your smile
for you to discover

Today I want to fall in love
because you can always refurbish
an old fire place and ashes can be removed
but not the hour nor a day like today
Today I will fall inlove
because I still can and I will
for love never dies, but life may,
before love finds its own place
to exist every day like you and I

We walked together
till together walked away
We stopped the walking
and sat down to lay
wondering how
life is heavy this way
not to carry
together’s slack
and whether we could carry
together another day
if together
were to ever come back
to stay

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

This is the first poem I wrote after I died
I am thinking of the next line
like my life no longer depended on it

The second poem I wrote, I am searching  through words I had said and lied

By the time I finished my third poem
all I find is regret and reason to put my pen to rest, lay my papers aside
and could have just simply said
“I love you”, while I was alive

Touch is the soft secret of the soul,
the whimper of rose, as it’s petals fold
Like light that reveals the hidden path,
your whispers of love open my heart

Our love is the wisest counsel of all,
In silence, we learn how angels  fall
Hold me like I’m your cliff and sky
birth me breath, like we’ll never die

To know in part and forget the whole
touch is the silent secret of the soul.

Turn the dial
on my back
and spin me around

Press the button
on my head
and push me down

Ring the bell
in my ear
bring on the sound

Push me off
the ledge
pick me off the ground

Check the crack
in the battery pack
no longer around

Why can’t we build a tree house?
In our own backyard behind the sky
away from a wailing world
far from where we lay and die
Why can’t we build a tree house?
To house and hold our dreams
our pictures pitched on wooden planks
’we were once ere’ inscribed on beams
A heart etched in a tree stump
Below where our forbidden kisses are found
No one to discover our hidden bites
Unless we let the ladder down
Our insecurities were safe up here
while I sketched your naked skin
every curvature and crease of secrecy
You read your poetry and let me in
on our backs, we gazed at the night sky
we sipped wine or drank some tea
In silence we shared unspoken words
wondering if stars have a tree
And now often I wish upon a star
now your another’s spouse
…are you happy?

…or dreaming of the same star
with our own tree house?

There are so many ways
to say goodbye
‘Hellos’ are but a few
there’s ‘adieu’ and ‘farewell’
just to mention one or two
‘Catch you later
…alligator’
there are much, and many more
of ‘Bye byes’
than of ‘Hi’s’
than a simple ‘Bonjour’

‘See ya’ or ‘See you’
easier said than to cleave
so, ‘So long’
won’t feel wrong
so many ways to see you leave
maybe, it’s because we depart
more often than we come
maybe, “hello” holds no meaning
after it’s said and when it’s done
goodbye could be good but hurtful
for no sorrow in hello you feel
but parting can be painful
so we say ‘Keep it real’

‘ta ta’, ‘toodeloo’
’sorry it’s me…not you’
among the funny things we say
like ‘howdy’, ‘how you?’
‘****-a-doodle-doo’
by early morning on your way
so it’s hasta la vista
see you soon, or cya later
I’d better be along.
take it easy
easy peasy
peace out and stay strong.

Why are the things I want the most
found on the highest shelf?
I question why others can reach
and why I can’t reach myself.
Are my legs too stout or small,
or my arms too short to love?
Is my heart too low below my head
to reach so high above?
I learn not how strong or tall
or how high up a thing is stacked
but how smart you are to make it fall
and secure the bottom rack

Wait, hold up
Did she actually say she loved me?

Wait, hold on
Are they actually our kids?

Wait till next appointment
Are they actually the results?

Wait, give me a sec
Was that life that just passed us by?

we are wound
all the way back
before being pulled apart
we are clicking like a timer
we are beating like a heart
we’re afraid to over stay
So we say, “we can’t”
yet ”goodbyes”we delay
and hardly move apart
we tinker and tanker
with ”thanks” and “see ya later”
but the sooner you let go
now and then whenever after
we always come back
to “hey” and “hello”

“What’s your
favourite colour?”,
she asked,
I replied, “black”.

“Black, like the night?”
she questioned
And went on
to question,
“Black’s not a colour”,
and she was right

But, I’d choose black
for anything
black car
black jeans
black beans
All my favourite things.

We paused

“What’s your favourite colour?”,
I asked
She smiled
touched my lips
and said,
“red”

But she wore pink
with green jeans
and a purple bow
on her head

I stopped and stared
wondering at that
How beautiful
she would make
the colour red

strict straight
black hair
ocean blue eyes
white fair skin

soft

sunlit red
wavy long hair
forest green eyes
softly freckled skin

considerate

midnight black
tight curled hair
beige brown eyes
dark bronze skin

strong

sandy blonde
wispy hair
soft hazel eyes
light tanned skin

caring

cinnamon
brown hair
deep black eyes
olive gold skin

kind.

When a woman loves a man
She is patient
She knows he’s built like a factory
And there’s certain parts of him that won’t work
But he’s working
And bringing the steam
so she can be warm
Unlike her, a garden, she is beautiful in all seasons, her soil is soft and clean
But he, gets ***** like a machine
When a woman loves a man
She understands the grease
And loves all of him even if she can’t hold him
Sometimes when he cries
It’s just a broken pipe, he’s trying to figure out beneath a bonnet
It’s not because he’s no longer in love
He’s just searching.
When a woman loves a man
She makes him feel like he’s the fire in her heart and she knows he needs to feel just as safe as she is.
When he’s quiet, she gives him air.
He’s just thinking.
He can’t believe he’s loved
with all his defects and loose cogs
and how can any woman love him
like you.

When I said I love you
I never considered the day you would part
You packed my soul in a suitcase
and locked the door of my heart

When I said I love you
I didn’t think by now you’d be gone
You filled my head with darkness
Left me in my head alone

When I said I love you
I never saw the day you'd leave me blind
You stole my sun in broad daylight
and turned the light off in my mind

I can hold on
when you hold me right

I can hold long
when it’s all your might

I can hold strong
when I’m all you hold tight

I walk a lonely alley off a quiet dead end street
at the gushing blow of where the wind and I meet
I clench my coat across my chest, turn my collar for warmth
my hat is flung off my head by the coming storms
my tie has flown and ***** like the tail of a kite
stripped right off my back, my coat puts up a fight
I tug back my shirt, but it’s bye byes across the sky
Like a black bird bleating I wish myself to fly
I extend my arms, running, like a plane off the ground
The winds undress me, more clothes dropping down
Soaring over cities, buildings and their blue seas
releasing the fabrics of my life now escaping me
I’m naked, but warmed by the layers of rays from the sun
nothing now matters than this feeling of having won
against the wind, an open sky, beyond the cast shadows below
I freely fly, with nothing on, but the air and where the wind may blow

A million white balloons
cover the clouds
they hide the sunrise
away from her eyes
we’ve breathed nine hundred thousand
and ninety-nine lies
one among the many
hides in the cries
one as pure as any
among the heavy on high
for one day they'll turn
flip like an urn full of tears
and pour down
like a crying sky

“lay low”,
said the lilo
and stay slow
till the wind blow
go down
don’t drown

go on
slip along
stay afloat
in this boat
be brave
stay strong

drift and glide
hover and rest
ain’t it lovely
ride and slide
feeling alive
without a guide
or safety vest

She hides waterfalls
behind her eyes
The taste of oasis
between her lips
Her ******* are a valley
of delights
Sun caressed cliffs
form her thighs
The wide skies hang
beneath her brow
southern cotton fields
clothe her golden soft skin
while oceans east swirl
at her curls and curving hips
the harvests ripe upon her lips
and if one asks me, “who is she?”
I reply,
“She’s my world, can’t you see…”

I’m hanging
on the ‘y’
of your goodb  e
                         y

the wind whispered me a secret
and I hid it from the sun
buried beneath the shade of a shadow
only till the passing light is done

yet a falling star flickered a rumour
till all sparkled the same lie
whispers spread across the heavens
and a black veil covered the sky

the secret lay buried in dark deception
amidst the still night of hidden lies
where the stars shine in secrecy
as to why the sun will no longer rise

I will never say
It is unfair that I am the one
always sacrificing for you
whether you love me
or not, I do not
love you to receive
to change you or I leave
I love being the one
who loves you, regardless
I truly do

and if I be not willing
to lay my life down in truth
or be compelled by love
and sacrifice as I do
then please, please
walk away and tell me,
I’m not worthy of the way,
you would have
loved me too

Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel
Like a snowball down a mountain, or a carnival balloon
Like a carousel that's turning running rings around the moon
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind!
Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own
Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone
Like a door that keeps revolving in a half forgotten dream
Or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind!
Keys that jingle in your pocket, words that jangle in your head
Why did summer go so quickly, was it something that you said?
Lovers walking along a shore and leave their footprints in the sand
Is the sound of distant drumming just the fingers of your hand?
Pictures hanging in a hallway and the fragment of a song
Half remembered names and faces, but to whom do they belong?
When you knew that it was over you were suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning to the color of her hair!
Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel
As the images unwind, like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind!

Winston was a dog
who bullied his canary

He’d often bury eaten birds
behind the old shed on the prairie

Till the day he chocked on a bone
coughing up an aviary

then sadly came the angry crows
pecked his arterial pulmonary

I know its mad
and may sound just a little crazy

but that’s what is trending
and now tweeting at #dogsobituary

Winter, one night, came to visit me
It sat in the chair opposite me
In a dark room it blew a chill over me
Ripped the cover right off me
Naked and hunched, it mocked me
Then fell in love with summer and left me