But isn't so long ago. so long ago or
was that so long ago?
so I ask, at the risk of boring you,
do you know?

It's not important anyway
so long ago is every day when you use the minutes wisely
and when you act like a miser the size of your memory
doesn't matter to me.

We know so long ago from long ago
just so you know
so long ago wasn't
that long ago at all.

Ever felt like you're banging your head
against a brick wall?
I have,
but that was so long ago.

You can't catch
a head cold
with
a butterfly net

Last weeks
Beyond the lonely ice
Come to an end
Moons marshall dust
Above a face of
Chemical snowcloud
Before the last ****** plunges you
To the core of old age

Now that I've lived all these years
And experienced so many things
With my march to Oldfartdom
On it's inexorable way
I've been thinking about the things I've learned
Perhaps to pass on to others

Well.......
It's like this
Life is wonderful
And life is ******
Love is elating
Love is devastating
Birth is a true miracle
Being a parent is scary
Money is a blessing
Whilst wealth is a curse
So......
What do I know?

                              By Phil Roberts

The line that brought everything
Took it all back
Sheepdogs, a mangle, a childs cry
Every year more stones dislodged
Forest inched over seeded slopes
Road lost itself a second time
Winters erased more
The crow mocked
Name and echo
Shrank into spruce

I feel extra special down today,
Said some things I needn’t say.
I left it hanging to be forgotten,
Building up inside, turning rotten.

To think I wanted her to leave me.
The only one who actually sees me.
Another excuse to justify my end,
I am for certain going round the bend.

She will forgive me, and forget.
But I don’t have many chances left.
Either in or out, it’s getting serious.
When it started we were both delirious.

Soul mates and the best of friends and lovers
Out in public or under the covers.
Family the cement keeping us together,
Gives us strength to brave the weather.

Today it's raining inside and out,
My mind's full of crippling doubt,
No good within and none without
No open space to scream or shout.

Trapped in here with myself and others
Wish I could explain this to my brothers.
Who rally round and pat my back,
When all I want is two bricks and a sack.

My face is just a mask
if you want to find out the real me just ask
for I am an open book
once you enter you will be hooked
a page turner
as everything I write is to teach
so you can be my learner
and your ears I may reach.

From my mistakes
the truth I do take
and compile into verse
for this is my curse
a conduit of truth
a study in how to loose
everything and everyone
I have ever loved beneath the sun.

My walls of confidence have been breached
but at least too my heart was reached
for I can say I've loved and lived
every thought and feeling I now give
so you can read
but not heed
the life that I now live.

I was there
When she cried

I sat there
Just holding her

When she screamed
I froze

I didn't know how to handle her unravel
I didn't know how to sew her back together

For you see
My own thread was worn

My own stitches were coming apart
From years of too-tight hugs

My button eyes coming undone
From all the pain I've seen you go through

My ratty fur matted wet from tears
You dried on my corduroy skin

I still feel it
The bite marks on the back of my head
from where you clenched your jaw so hard around my nylon flesh

You screamed into my stuffed brain so loud
you reverberated my neurons of synthetic polyester cotton mix

The best thing about being your teddy bear
Was being there for you

Making you happy when you cried
Laugh when you were down

You thought I was a Russian bear warrior,
You named my Mishka
It was coolest thing ever
You thought I was invincible

Until you grew up.

You stopped having me around as often
You grew up as I wore down

Your problems where not tears I could wipe away
My stitched smile could not spread to your face anymore
My button eyes, the ones once so polished that they gleamed,
Now dull and scratched

You threw me when you were angry
Squeezed me when you sobbed
Locked me up in closets
Hid your childish joy from sight

I guess that's the thing about being your childhood best friend.
I only lasted in your childhood