Nothing less than everything,
is what i give to you.
Everything I am is yours,
and everything I do.

Just what is it that scares you
is it the fear of something new
is it the fear of something less
than what you're looking forward to

Is it the fear that just perhaps
things may not be all they seem
or the fear something better
or something in between

Or perhaps its expectations
that you put upon yourself
or that by choosing something different
you could end up on the shelf

I say blow away your fears
let chance lead you where it may
after all its chance that brought you
here to read all this today

And that didn't work out so bad did it?

Do I write because I've things to say,
or things I don't want to do?
Is sitting here typing away,
a decoy for the blues?

I know there's things long overdue,
but there's nothing that cannot wait.
Could it be though that my poetry,
is just a way to procrastinate?

I have stuff to put away and sort,
and things to be thrown out.
But I'd really rather sit and write,
of that there is no doubt.

Perhaps I should accept the fact,
and get somebody in,
who's not attached to all my crap,
who can throw it in the bin.

And then I will be free to write,
my conscience will be clear.
If only I could find my pad,
I'm sure I left it here...
somewhere...

You are the shining armour
that this knight is wrapped within
His shield against the elements
without which he could not win

You are are the strength within his heart
his courage and his pride
Which carry him to battle
like the noble steed he rides

Without you he is just a man
a lowly humble serf
But with your love inside him
this knight can rule the earth

Got an issue? I can fix it.
Broken heart? I mend those too
But when you’re done and fly away
don’t take a piece of me with you

Just once I’d like someone to fix
the one that’s left behind
The one from way back yesterday
who was honest, true and kind

Who took the time to listen
to all you had to say
on who’s shoulder you shed many tears
in whose heart you live today

You see I have a secret
it’s that I am broken too
but thoughts of me get pushed aside
and replaced by thoughts of you

But if the past repeats itself
I know I’d do it all again
Even if the price for selflessness
is solitude and pain.

Every night when I turn over, before I fall asleep, I wait for you to ask why.
I wait for you to ask why so that I can explain.
I can explain that if I turn over I can't see you. If I turn over and I wake up in the night, which is seem to do every night I stay here, at least two or three times, then all I see in the moonlight is the attic door, the vague outline of a bedside table, the soft pulsing glow of a charging cellphone.
Because if I can't see you then I can convince myself I won't feel the need to touch you.
Because if I don't touch you, I don't have to deal with the way it feels when you pull away.
So I turn over every night before I go to sleep and wait for you to ask.
But you never do.

Another day without you
means another day of waste
Another day to miss
the way your lips do taste

Another day without you
24 more hours gone
To wake up here without you
seems to make the day drag on

Another day without you
without hearing your voice
everything is background
undefinable white noise

Another day without you
meals eaten, nothing savoured
sitting alone at the table
facing food that has no flavour

Another night without you
a bed too big, the night too long
Another moment spent without you
can be nothing else, but wrong

Today I woke up to your voice
calling out my name
and it sounded like sweet music
so gentle its refrain

it was like waking up to raindrops
falling softly on my face
and for a moment memories
had fallen out of place

but then it all came creeping back
and the pain welled up inside
of the night I woke up to your voice
when in my sleep you cried

I don't know how you reached me
from so may miles away
but one minute I was sound asleep
the next I heard you say

please honey, come and get me
for I don't feel so good
somethings happening to the baby
it doesn't feel like it should

As fast as I could get there
I drove the 40 miles
to your sisters on the lakeshore
where we'd shared so many smiles

But as I turned round the corner
nearly crashing at the gate
I could see the paramedics
and I knew I was too late

They said you didn't make it
that the baby had died too
why did you hide your sickness from me
there could've been something we could do

Well that was seven years ago
and each day I feel the pain
But today I woke up to your voice
calling out my name.

And it sounded like music...

Sometimes
                                                    a
 ­                                                spark
                                         ignites         a
                                       flame,
                                       other times
                                                        it
­                                                    simply
      ­                                sputters  out
                   ­                leaving
                                behind   nothing
                              but                        ­a
                                wisp of smoke
                                  and a hint
                                    of
                     ­                sulphur,
                                       the only
                                        evidence
           ­                           we even
                                      tried.
               ­                            ...

Your words sting like vinegar
when spilled on open wounds
They carve their way into me
like eating ice cream with a spoon

Like lemonade thats sugar free
they have a bitter taste
but unlike health warnings on cigarettes
their message goes not to waste

As with most recipe disasters
like when I cooked Fish Ragu
I'm not sure where I got things wrong
just what exactly did I do?

The door is being closed
shutters fastened, curtains drawn
perhaps this is the moment
that is the dark before the dawn

Once closed it will not open
sealed shut forevermore
so please do not coming knocking
I'm not playing any more

Already colours start to change
their pigments slowly fade to grey
The sun moves in behind a cloud
adding shadows to decay

The brambles and the thickets grow
their thorns a natural defence
protecting solitary sanity
casting out hope and false pretence

Once the memory of a face has gone
that held the beauty of a rose
My withdrawal will be complete
and the door will finally close

Take me to that place you hold,
closed off deep inside.
Where dreams of love and gentleness and reality collide
Where openly you live in hope,
but dare not dream it true.
For that is where your future lays,
a life with me and you.

I still get the looks
as I stroll down the racks
and look through the books
while avoiding the hacks
and I hear what they say
when they think I cant hear
about moving away
and not staying round here
But my skin is quite thick
I'm not easily moved
which you'd think they would know
else I'm just being rude
For daring to stay
in town such as this
where the rumor mill rules
and the truth takes a ****
Just because someone said
no that don't make it right
no matter who's dead
or who died in the night
I know what they think
but quite frankly don't care
cos its always me here
and them over there
I'm an outsider you see
someone from "away"
so the locals are right
no matter what I might say
They don't care about truth
they don't care about right
all they want is some gossip
bout what happened that night
But **** em I say
and I know it sounds blunt
but truth is they're gonna
believe what they want
and as tragic and sad
as the truth just might be
they'd have no one to blame
especially me
So I still get the looks
as I stroll down the rack
while I deal with my loss
and wait for life to come back

What if your last love was exactly that, the last one?
Would you be more forgiving?
Would you "let more things go" in favor of not being alone?
After all, if they were your last and you knew there wouldn't be another, might you not be more inclined to keep them around?
I think about that sometimes.
I knew goodbye wasn't what they wanted to hear.
I knew they wanted to work it out.
But I know, for me, there was just no way.
Don't get me wrong, it was once great. It was once the best.
For a while we both tried to kid ourselves that it would last forever.
Turns out we were both wrong.
But as sad that feels, it was the right thing to do.

And if they were the last, then as much as it ***** being so premature, it could have been much worse.

The deep dark soulful abyss
draws me in, falling,
losing myself in your gaze
Everything around us drains away
like sand through an hourglass
Wrapped in solitude, silence
only the sound of our breath remains,
getting heavier, heart beating faster
chest heaving in anticipation
anticipation of this moment
this moment where finally
finally we can be free.
Free to love, to make love
to feel love, to share love
Free
Free to be together, to eat together
go to sleep together, wake up together
to be together, completely.
Completely without reservation or hesitation
Completely without fear, or nervousness or doubt.
Completely.
Until that day...

Did you ever once foresee,
there would be a day,
when we'd be just a memory
when our time gone away?

Our path was not an easy one,
there were mountains that we climbed,
but the level road had just begun,
those trials now lay behind.

But something changed along the way.
We let the fire go out,
and as your life you rearranged,
certain love gave way to doubt.

And so chose to take your leave,
and cast all things aside,
convincing those along the way,
while forsaking truth for pride.

So now alone by candlelight,
many years having passed,
you dream of how it might have been,
had you found the strength to ask.

This is no Senryu
because its just one sentence
broken into three

Each rooms a little dimmer now,
each sky a bit more grey.
The sun shines not as brightly,
there's less laughter in each day.

The hours seem somehow longer
with each minute comes the pain
If I could have just one more day with you
to see your face again…

Into this world you brought me
taught me right from wrong
Your laughter was my music
your love, that musics song

I assumed you'd always be there
to share my joy and ease my pain
its hard to know I'll never
see you or hear your voice again

The sunshine of my every day
has now been replaced by cloud
but I know that you're still up there Mum
I'll do my best to do you proud

To me love is quite simple,
not a complicated thing,
sometimes written on a paper,
and sealed with a ring.

Sometimes carved into an oak tree,
or written out in verse.
Sometimes spoken in the words,
for better or for worse.

But all those things just demonstrate,
to others how you feel.
They are not what love is all about.
They are not what makes it real.

Real love is not just passion,
not just desire and not just lust.
Real love involves integrity,
honesty and trust.

Real love is truly everything,
and holding nothing back.
It is there in times of plenty,
and grows in times of lack.

Its the first thing that you feel,
at the start of every day,
and its with you all the time,
in what you do and what you say.

Its the reason for that smile,
that just appears on your face.
Its why you sometimes end up laughing,
wiping tears from your face.

Its that midnight warm embrace,
that soothes you as you sleep.
Its a feeling oh so wonderful,
that will sometimes make you weep.

Its the reason we accomplish,
things we never thought we could,
and find ourselves attempting,
things we swore we never would.

Love isn't just a part time thing,
in a lover that we chose.
It's a spiritual possession,
we don't ever want to lose.

Your legs go all the way from your flip flops
right up to your cut off jeans
when my momma warns me bout certain girls
I can see you're the type that she means

There's a look in your eye
and a thing in your walk
that i struggle to fully describe
and everyone knows when your man
he'll sure be lucky to survive

you're trouble in a cut offs
so everyone says
but I think you're just misunderstood
and wrapped in that passionate chassis
is a heart that feels nothing but good

so sure I'll go to the dance with you
then maybe down to the lake for a walk
we can sit on the shore til the sun comes up
and listen to music and talk

and when we get back home next morning
and I drop you early and bright
you can guess what the neighbours are saying
but hell we'll know we did right

so trouble in cut offs she aint all that bad
not as bad as you'd like her to be
there's a side of her people don't think of
a side that chose to show me

Meet me neath the sweetheart tree
As soon as church is out
I got something there to show you
And that I’m nervous aint no doubt

See Trouble now its been a while
Since you an’ me been goin’ steady
And I been fixing t’ask you somethin’
Just till now I ain’t been ready

See I got me this ID bracelet
I done had since I left high school
And if you’d wear this for me Trouble
Well that’d just be too cool

Now it don’t mean we’re married
Oh no ma’am nothing like that
See I don’t wanna scare you off none
I just want folks to know where we’re at

I know they call you Trouble
But they don’t see you like I do
Cos silly names and rumours
Stopped ‘em seein’ the real you

But I’m sure glad I took the time
And spent it in your company
Cos the more I know the more I love
The girl in front of me

Words are weapons of mass distraction
to take our eyes off the criminal action
of democracy ****** over for global destruction
as media serves to create obstruction
as votes get sold for campaign contributions
and we the people search for solutions
the rich get richer and the poor get *******
and the planet dies screaming in the interlude

Take my hand and walk with me,
along lifes winding path.
Together we will learn of life,
we'll love and cry and laugh.

Take my hand walk with me,
around the rivers bend.
And I will keep you in my heart,
for you are my best friend.

Take my hand just one more time,
squeeze tight don't let it go.
This journey is the last for me,
but I must pass alone.

Lay down my hands across my chest,
for its time to say goodbye.
But we'll hold hands once more my friend,
upon the other side.

My head is confused
By the actions of my heart
Indecisiveness
Nothing is certain anymore
Chase two balloons and lose both

If Monday were a poem
it would be short and terse
Disorganised and cluttered
not a friendly little verse

If Tuesday were a poem
much better it would fare
Over the words that went within
I'd be inclined to care

If Wednesday were a poem
it would be full of hope
the week is halfway over and
we climb back down the rope

If Thursday were a poem
looking forward it would be
dreaming of the weekend
and the joys that it will see

If Friday were a poem
t'would be happy, bright and gay
for work is finally over
and now its time to play

If Saturday was poetry
as frequently it is
Then I would sit alone and write
A poem such as this

But Sundays where this poem
comes to a natural end
For tomorrow will be Monday
and it will start again.

I think therefore what?
I am, I know, I could be?
Perhaps I just think.

A ****? Healthy greens?
Tasty drink with Burdock root?
The Dandelion

I cry alone because thats who I am
thats what my life is
alone

I cry alone because there's nobody here to hold me
to tell me its all gonna be ok
because it isnt

I cry alone because when the tears do come
when they do bust the dam
its a downpour

I cry alone because it scares me
it scares me that I may not stop
It scared me so much that I tried so hard for so long not to.

I cry alone

but at least now I've started.

Let me be your sunshine
Let me brighten up your day
Let me take your winter blahs
and chase them all away

New!
(maybe)
"Prime Poems"
Syllables in primes
One then two then three then five
Think back to math class at school for the others
Is it starting to come back yet or are you struggling
And the prime numbers are the easy part, wait til you have to find words
Then you'll be wishing you'd paid more attention in English class as well as math
Which of the two will fail you first, will it be knowing the next number or finding the right words

There must be a hidden room
Somewhere in my house
thats full of all the stuff I've lost
(I think twas stolen by a mouse)

I bet he goes to sleep at night
on a bed made of odd socks
and wakes up to a wind charm
made from keys and old padlocks

In the corner nickels and dimes
are all neatly arranged
and that Canadian Tire money
I never got to exchange

The charger for my cellphone
prob'ly makes a decent chair
and my old shaving mirror
gets used when he does his hair

Scraps of paper line his walls
with shopping lists and names
and numbers now forgotten
yet its me who gets the blame

So all this stuff that I once had
but can no longer find
will no doubt become mine again
when he's gone and its left behind

Why do the best things end
before they ever really start

and the travesties of life
never come far enough apart

And that always bitter taste
is never washed away

by Johnnie Walker Red,
Minervois or Chardonnay

Why did the sun that rose each morning
choose one day not show

And leave me here in darkness
with no place left to go

Does this mean its gone forever
never to return

Will I never feel its warmth again
will I never feel its burn

Or like the phoenix from the ashes
will it rise again reborn

Over a freshly woven landscape
no sign of sorrow, fear or scorn

Everyone is perfect, in that special persons eyes
And **** is a state of mind, nothing to do with size

And beauty is a thing, that lingers deep inside
and is never superseded, by what is seen outside

Sometime people try to tell us, that none of this true
and if you're one of those people, then I feel bad for you

Because everything thats physical, will one day fall away
and then you will be left alone, with your shallow little ways

I long for the first days of spring
for winter time to end
In icy snow and frigid cold
to sadness I descend

I long for spring and daffodils
no more this frozen land
that you and I may walk the hills
together, hand in hand

I long for spring and waterfalls
the coming of new life
that I may go on bended knee
And ask you to be my wife

Then I’ll long for spring and summer too
for winter and for fall
That I may spend each day with you
and learn to love them all

I wander from room to room
trying to pick out what to keep
What to take on to the next place
where to sit and where to sleep

I'll take the bed of course
maybe a couch or maybe two
a writing desk and oil lamp
so I've at least got stuff to do

I dont need a television
fax machine or dryer
I'll write letters for a past time
dry my clothes in front the fire

I think I leave all of my gadgets too
from the office and kitchen
that way when they break
wont be me you hear *******'

Blankets and a rocking chair
books and candles too
pots and pans and plates and stands
and cutlery for two

Of all the things around me
there's so little that I need
will be nice to simplify my life
and shed this cloak of greed

I walked along the beach one day
and found a rusty lamp
I picked it up and rubbed it off
to wipe away the damp

And suddenly this little man
fell out upon the floor
looked up and started cursing me
"what the hell d'you do that for?!"

So I apologised and picked him up
'fore he got eaten by a fish
and in return said to me
for that you've earned a wish

I wished something that's not for me
but for a freind who's lucks been poor
and so impressed was the little man
he said for that you can have one more

So I wished again for someone else
who's lot is worse than mine
and again the little fellow
repeated his last line

But this time round my wish was such
that it would also do me good
A little more self serving
and a bit less Robin Hood

But again he told me I'd get one more
and I felt a bit confused
Is there going to come a time
when my turns have all be used

He said to me he didn't know
but things could be much worse
One fella left him on the ground
for that he got a curse.

His curse was to live in a lantern
and float from shore to shore
until he finally found someone
Who was rich but also poor

Then he asked me for twenty bucks
I told him ten was all I had
but he was welcome to it anyway
if it helped I would be glad

So he took my ten and hailed a cab
that just happened to be driving past
with a squeal of tires and a puff of smoke
they both took off really fast

I tried to dismiss it from my mind
as a weird daydream at best
But then when I got home
at my door, was a little wooden chest

The note on the box said well done you
you truly are mankinds friend
This token of our appreciation
means you'll never be poor again

I've still got the chest here somewhere
and the level seems never to drop
but I have pretty much all I need
so there's gold right up to the top.

Worry not for where the steamer heads
it simply helps us run away
But before you close this door for good
please listen to what I say

I'd never keep you from your loved ones
only your pride could e'er do that
and just because we sail away
doesn't mean we won't sail back

Why content yourself with hearsay
and yet insist I give you proof
The love you feel for me is real
but for him much more aloof

I can't promise you a lifetime
any more than any man
but what we have is here right now
with him its just a sham

You ask of me some guarantee
and then provide your own
That to live with one you do not love
would be worse than if alone

My love is not a lie my love
and never could it be
it's simply a dream thats unfulfilled
a dream of you and me

But if you choose to go to Sussex
please do not take me there
For these memories will haunt you
and lead you to despair.

Instead cast memories aside
both of me and of this week
I will think of you in Sussex
each time your name I speak

For though my this dream may not come true
I'll not deny it came to pass
For I will see its memory
in every looking glass

I'll not say another word my love
the decision must be yours
We both know that truth and happiness
starts through the cabin doors

26 letters, some I never use
is all i have to demonstrate
my melancholy news
combined in different orders
changing pace and changing tone
I try to tell the sadness
of being here alone
I build in different tempo's
no repetition or refrain
outside the fact that once again
my tears fall like rain
26 letters, some I never use
will go back into their box
until I get just one from you

Sometimes I dream of sleeping
never to awake
would that be a thing so terrible
is that a choice that I could make?

As I face a life of solitude
sometimes resolute and strong
voluntary independence
few even noticing I've gone

I cannot help but wonder
if a never ending sleep
would release me from these memories
allow me finally to weep

Would I finally get closure
feel all my debts were fully paid
would I find the peace I long for
only when in the ground I'm laid

Whatever made me think,
That settling would do,
Did you settle for me,
Like I settled for you.

We live as flatmates you and I.
I'm you cook and I'm your maid,
But this is the bed I've chosen,
And in it I am laid.

Our relationship it has no love,
No passion, no desire,
Was I really so naive,
To expect a sparkless fire.

Is it time for me to walk away,
Before it is too late,
To find the love this woman needs,
To start with a clean slate.

Oh how I wish that I could just,
Get up, walk out the door,
But duty, guilt and vanity,
Keep my here once more.

I pray someone will find me,
And give me what I need,
The strength and love to make the change,
To reclaim, what is me.

Good morning Lord
tell me do you feel any shame,
about the things that people do,
under the banner of your name?

Burning holy books in Florida
because they tell a different story
albeit one thats close to yours
about truth, peace, love and glory

I used to think you preached of love
for all our fellow men
but I guess somebody changed it
cos they know better than you did then

No wonder church is pleading poverty
with attendance on decline
there's far to much intolerance
could you at least send them a sign

Now you and I were never close
if you exist you must know why
but for your sake please do something
show us forgiveness is no lie

I think that I’m in love
with who I think you are
And I think you’re pretty ****
from what I think I’ve seen so far

I think you’re pretty smart
even though you think that you’re not
And I think you’re really pretty
in fact I think you’re pretty hot

But I know that you intrigue me
and I know you make me smile
and I know when I don’t speak to you
that time drags on for miles

I know that I don’t know enough
to know if you’re the one
But I think that if you think on it
you’ll think it might be fun

So I think that we should go somewhere
then I’ll stop thinking all this stuff
Instead of thinking I’ll be knowing
whether or not I am in love.

I wish that you could this
that you were sitting here with me
watching clouds race across the sky
and whitecaps on the sea

That you too could taste the salty air
feel the spray upon your face
turn up your collar against the wind
feel the warmth of my embrace

Watching gulls above the headland
staring down the gales
and way off in the distance
the surfacing of whales

I wish that you could see this
that you were sitting here with me
you and I together
how perfect that would be

I wouldn't say that I was polished
if anything I'm kind of rough
and I cannot help but sometimes feel
I could never be enough

I know I can be charming
I do generosity not greed
But I have this nagging doubt
That I can't give you what you need

I know that I could love you
as good as any other man
But will love alone be just enough
to keep hold of your hand

I've seen the life you had before
the designer names and tags
and I know compared to you
I run around in rags

So its time for me to ask you,
please speak honest, true and free
can really say you'd give that up
to build a life with me?

It ok if you're uncertain
or if the answers no
it better that we know this now
so our ways we each can go

I wish you luck with everything
I really truly do
I hope that next time on this earth
I have enough for you

When is a kiss just a kiss
and when is it so much more?
When it leaves you feeling richer
even if you're poor?

When it leaves a tingle on your lips
and a flutter in your heart?
When you feel its passion in your hips
long after you're apart?

When it catches your breath, and time stands still
and all else goes away?
Now who wouldn't want to be kissed like that
each and every day?

Wandering the streets alone
braced against the colds
a dusty worn out overcoat
mismatched shoes with matching holes

Sunken eyes and sagging cheeks
skin all weathered, failing sight
He meanders through the cobbled streets
seeking warmth to last the night

His story all too common
one more forgotten son
who fell right through the cracks
once his duty had been done

The nightmares that he couldn’t shake
that wouldn’t let him sleep
mix with memories of the friends he lost
call forth tears he cannot weep

The proud young man once strong and brave
is now a shadow in his past
just while awake his demons hide
but his peace will never last