the trees settle their ghosts,
in the yellows of the sinking day
a strange wood
that waits for it to grow dark,
that sinks like a cloud
as falling leaves flood the sandy isles
with their sighs of fire,
as the trees ripple and flow
to a wind of immense breath,
rocking, floating down,
a sapphire ring left on a branch
by a girl who dreams of snow.

there are no ghosts
in the sky,

my tabby cat wears the moon,
curled into the corner
like a sleepy fog,

the dreamscape is made
of silver and gold,

you (like always)try to get my
attention and i (like always) ignore
you, trying to write
my poem…

streams of the stars
golden leaves
sinking in the fading light
dappled shadows
where the light drowns
its stones and unwraps
the sweetness of the night.

the stars
unravel
ink-ribbons,
the wind’s
ghost gusts,
fragile as
a spinning leaf,
tremble,
throw their voices
like ventriloquists
into the loomy dark.

shadows on the water,
locks of hair in pendants,
love still remembered
though the tide is now
withered like summer grass.

clouds without edges, white like
soft pillow cases,
the sky filled with the pale embers of dusk.

the day drifts away, striding, skirts swaying
floating in the ether, untamed and restful.

sunken like the stars, the
dark begins to ripple its black
pools, carves its statues of wood and moon.

i wait for you in this opal night,
my legs a song of longing
my breath a shiver of scattering
birds, flowers in my hair,
my kiss gold blossom
unlocked with a sigh.

i melt as you touch me
my eyes whispering silk,
blue enamels of sea,
my arms
gathering you to me,
my breast full of
dark songs.

i glow, my eyes bold shadows of night,
my lips pressing in to yours
gathering honey like a bee.

i am your girl of the wind,
a jar of stones,
your beautiful muse.

gather me to you,
hold me for ever
and i will learn to speak
of love like
a solitary red rose petal
falling to the floor.

walls of smoke          
ghost girl
floating

the small hours
dance to the song of
the moon

placed on a
wooden coat hanger
the satin clouds of the dark.

the sea and its ghosts,
water falling,
clouds like peaceful
monasteries,
somewhere beyond.

sea of mystery
and dark desire,
harbour of peaceful blue,

mirrors like apple peel
twisting their reflections
into a song of me and you,

the leaves fall down,
everything falls down,
little alleyways of our love,

i promised you desire
and it was my weeping eyes,
my torn hair,
my dance in a poet's grove.

our love scattering
like the song of the dark,

we are within our
wind-blown castle walls
where wild roses ramble,

we can hear
the sea
its withering song
like voices from
the dead,

our hearts, misty
companions,
beckon to each other
no strangers
to the pulse of love.

in the blossoming,
the sweet, sweet,
echoing blossoming
of our love

i hear stars
wrapped to the sky,

i hear the
curves of a
bridge sigh
like a
blue sea,

i hear the
infinite splendours
of you,
mild and
shadowy like
the sky,

i hear dark notes
and light notes,
blue clouds
sweeping full
of longing
and song,

and i hear poetry
so sweet and
delicate,
that my soul
starts to shiver
melting
like the song.

the river overflows down to the sea,      
a wintry song to tame the reveled night,
and born of love the stars blaze ever bright,
with soft-ringed beams that sigh like poetry.
dark woven hour, how you inspire me,
the midnight gleams with pools of paean light,
the drowsy moon is shining filmy-white,
the woodlands shrink and dream of sanctuary.
arise on arching wings, oh, song once sung,  
oh, water sprite, oh, lily of the vale,
you pine for love, the forest weaves a spell,
unearthly voice of honey throat and tongue
  i hear you whisper, sing your wild, wild tale,      
  then bid the world goodbye and sweet farewell.

drowning, drowning under,
these voices loud as thunder,
the dragon and the tiger,
the hermit and the miser,
twist the paths of fate.

the devil was my brother,
he took me to the river
where the waters flow forever,
beside the laughing heather,
a river full of hate.

the dragon said; "i'll burn you."
the tiger said; “i’ll maul you.”
the hermit said; “i live on my own.”
the miser said; “i won’t give you a loan.”

the devil was my brother,
he threw me in the river
where the waters flow forever,
beside the laughing heather.

drowning, drowning under,
these voices loud as thunder,
i watched the laughing heather,
while the river flowed forever
and my soul was filled with hate.

  i shouted to my brother;
“devil be ******.”
“i am ******,” he replied,
“like the river of hate
  and my sister need best understand

the hell that flows forever,
beside the laughing heather.”
“but i am your sister,” i cried.
“i am the devil,” he softly replied.

“where summer’s bronzes dull and sink”

the trees are like
wet coat hangers,
holding up the leaves,

my cat is frosty like
an october morn,
sleeping on the sill,

everything is dripping
like a wet pair of
jeans taken out of the wash,

the sky wears its greys
of cloud, dim and dramatic
it opens summer eyes.

the fires of an august sun,
the leaves a dream  
of shadows.

in a garden, slender with summer rose,
where the silvering petals
gathered whisky clouds and love,

the shadows smouldered
while the breezes built bridges of
leaves, in a darkening, near nocturnal world;

and i sat, marvelling at the pretty sunset,
at the shady boughs, at the gorgeous
sky in the fading light with its golds and blues

and i felt calm and settled, while the
sun grew smokey, burnt to ruin,
(in the soon ruined sky) dulling, nearly black.

i.

water-born,
the dark skies of the lily,
its song of petals
and gauze.


ii.

unwrapped and
white,
rushing in
streams of
bending flower,
ghost of a blue star.

iii.

ghost of a tender night,
calling out to a misty sky -
the breath of a star -
light spaces, stormy opals,
tranquil air.

iv.

sweet flower of
the dusk,
gathering the
glow of the lake,
gathering its
honey’s and frosts.

v.

below brooding clouds
that drop their tears
like heavy dew,
the lake deepens
and whispers,
carries its grey mask.

the sun, bold as an eagle,
stretches its wings,

the summer is like a
lizard basking in the
brightening light,

it is like a mid-day dancer
drowsy with the
flowers of day,

the pools of shadow
purr like a cat, yearn for
a cooling saucer of milk.

ian is my love
love is always ian
i want to always love ian
because love is beautiful in my life.

i have a blank canvas,
my poems like watercolours,
sweet blues and greens,
drafted in blossom.

spring brings new leaves
and budding flowers,
opens her eyes,
begins to dress the earth,
finds freedom in the flowing
breeze,
while the sparrows
sing like fluffed out
buddha's in the
hedge.

the blackbird dances on the lawn
(always in a tremendous fuss)
birds scrambling with
twigs and scraps of cloth,
chattering about the silks
of the blossoming sky
and the sands of the sun
blowing ceaselessly
in a gold dream of day.

what is there to seek
in a world where i once sought
you with every chord of my
being
and finding the most precious
stone burnt with love
brighter than a blossoming rose?
i’ll never forget that love
it drowns me in my darkest sorrows
pierces me with darts of happiness
unravels my soul into a thousand
burning flames and yet you
are gone, you are gone,
you are gone….

i.

sunlight,
blue jewel
of the sky,
dancing ring,

solitary keeper,

melting rose,
cool in its summer
bloom.

ii.

how pretty the
crystal green
leaves, the
knotted wood
angular, waving.

iii.

summer stole our
hearts, the sea my
love, in its ebony
waves, blue straws
and indigo light.

iv.

sea, rose of green
summer, blue of
languid lake, dance
of soul, desert ache.

v.

you conjure a spell
of your heart
wanting me
to want you.

i want you,
i say it
again and
again.

"where night is a star reflected in a cool pool"

surreal as the silver moon
dipped in the silks of
the night sky,

watery prisms of
pool, tender as ****
frost wound around
the shadowy banks,

little flutes for ripples,
giant sky of light,
pool of ovid gold,

my love for you
knows no end,
sweet boy, in all
the give and take
the last line of
the sky, the first
line of the sea.

pouring through
the body, heavy as
night’s alabaster walls,
light as a dancer’s arabesque,
temporal,
unearthly,
the flowers of the dark.

we lean into the night
like marble towers of piza
moon-petals smouldering
empty of all light
captured by the beauty of the dark
the shadows shivering their dark paints
and our minds unfolding dreams
where beautiful things sigh and unwrap
their happy golds,
where beautiful things sigh of eternities
of songs of an aching sky.

inspiration, the dark soul
deranged, an eagle flowing
with the sky, a poem carving
itself out of oak, everything
surging, everything uncovered,
joys, mad, mad joys.

the star of the star of the morning
is restful and breathful and free

the star of the star of the evening
blossoms dark as a shadowy tree,


the waves drive out far in their rivers
as blue as a star in the sky,

and the darkness relents for her shivers
must finally die.


waves turning and burning and dancing
clouds wandering e'er ever on

and the darkness that finds the new morning,
as cold as stark night's bitter song,


oh, brother who wept for my sisters
no tears as alive as their breath

swept out where the wild sea blisters
and pain knows of death.


wild whispers, wild birds and the fury
of waves that sing out to the clouds

the death then of life that we bury
laid out in the whitest of shrouds


the sea, oh, the sea, how she sings me
a song of a dance never sung

and her rhythms soon calm and placate me
her bell solemn rung.


and sweet love is the journey i strive for
as blue as a mysterious sea

and the love is a fruit full of succor,
and the moment will live e'er free,


you stand tragic as a painting so mournful
alone as a poet who rests,

and the lull of the storms here at night fall
the sea's treasure chests.


the day wraps the night in her roses
and night wraps the day in her sight

and midnight's soft moonlight supposes
that day is a journey e'er bright,


and love was a love still forever
and love had no rose in her bower

for the floor of the sea like a feather
the delicatest flower.

it was a warm night,
every inch
of my being
was devoured,
our fire was a dark
ocean, our
bodies could not
be controlled,
we breathed
as one,
wrapped arms
and legs and
could not get closer,
all the shadows of my
heart swept away,
every ghost shook
and trembled
and i knew only the tender
mist of your love.

where night is black opals
before the storm.

out of the flames,
pheonix bright,
our love,
reawoken,
tender and ageless,
*****-faced like
a jaguar of the night,
purple, blue and yellow
the bloodless fire,
and somewhere in
the hurt and the pain
the ghosts like an
old sinatra song
sing their melodies
in the sad summer hours.
i don't think i'll
ever feel so bruised
or so dark, our love
out of those blue-ghost
flames.

gathered up,
spells and sorcery,
budding silver moon,
eyelashes melting,
sweet, sweet kiss.

the river longs for the sea,
stars like blue arcs,
ghostly voices
hum on the breeze,
the flowers of
the night
blossom in the starlight,
the air seems to soften
and clouds drift and drift,
puddles of grey inks with
even greyer moods.

red petals of a rose
starting to collapse
under the weight
of light rain,

the perfections of
a summer sky,

leaves brushed
by sunlight
and patchy shadow,

the wind’s ghosts
fading to nothing,

the wind’s ghosts  
the blues of an august
sky.

i.

memories fleet,
storms of an echoing sky,
she sings of miracles
her pockets full of stars.

ii.

a violin sings in the darkness,
ache and thunderous might
stretch across the fabrics of
a dying world,
plunge into the depths of a blue sea.


iii.

everywhere her love sings out
finding poetry unfolding
like the wings of a bird.

cute.

the river flows into
the night,
stars parade,
ghosts of the air
chant strange songs,
the flowers once
spellbound
close with the breath
of the moon,
floating
i am a ghost too.

where the breeze blows
more softly than
a river flowing to the sea,
where my heart hums
its strangest melodies.

i’m carved out of stone,
my heart windswept
and wild.

i wind and unwind the stars,
hide in sweet caves.

summer unlocks her doors
opens shutters far-flung
in a distant sky.

your love draws me nearer,
scatters me like rose-dust,
attracts like the dreams of the night.

i.

the stars wait
for you, wrap
the sky into their
silver sea.

ii.

red roses of
summer, a ghost
parade of blowsy
whites.

iii.

you, swept
along like
a stream,
pretty blue
sky echoes
of the sea.

iv.

kiss for my love,
i follow the path
to my love,
he waits and the
stars blow like
a fierce wind.

v.

the stars, red roses,
you, kisses, blue
air split like a seed,

i follow the path to my love,
i follow the path

crazy star blossoming
as i long for him....

tide, the moon-flow of the
sea a soft ghost.

smouldering in shadowy inks
the night with its luminous clouds.

bluebells flower in the rain,
boy of love,

buttercups on long stems
full of summer’s gold,

the world opens its doors and windows
the air feels fresh and clear,

sadness weaves its way under the trees
prefers to wait in the shadows,

i dream about you a lot,
boy of love.

as lonely as the tide,
love is out of reach,
the perfections of the
waves with their
tangy blue airs
like liquid silks.

i.

night pours water
from a jug,

the earth is softened by
the tears of the rain.

ii.

i dream, the dark
unravels its flowers,

ghosts whistle and hum.

iii.

we pocketed stars and honey
moons, unwrapped summer seas
our love more tender than dream,
our love the night’s caverns
of black inks, timeless and
filled with dark golds.  

iv.

you wrap your legs
around mine and we sink forever,
sink like the sway of a tide
emboldened with love.

i.

the night wanders
down a beautiful pathway
where a river sighs and
everything is filled with the quiet light of stars.

ii.

bird, fluid as a dream,
sky, river of air,
stream of colossal cloud.

iii.

ghosts winding through
dream clouds, tall castles,
ivy-covered walls.


iv.

jasmine sea,
torn landscape,
loves battered roses.

v.

still i wait for you
the sky is filled forever
with all my tears.

i.

words blur themselves
in the remote reaches
of the mind, verbs
and adjectives search
for voice in a tongue
captivated by ice,
flowering like the
newly blossoming sun.

ii.

frozen,
with the frost
that winter
breathes,
the winter’s silhouette the
ghost of the snow.

iii.

her voice a million
white leaves
learning how to melt
like a little snowman
wrapped in a warm,
red scarf.

iv.

the water breathes
its kiss of ice,

mirrors pressed to
the sky,
white hedgerows
with leaves
that shiver
gathering april's
weak sunlight,

framed like a
watercolour the
shadows of
midnight’s blue inks.

v.

the lake ploughs
its bottle-like
greens, surrenders its
shimmering breath
to the waste land of
the sky.

vi.

love drifts with the seas
where the waves rush
past, a colossal stream
below the blue stars.

night melts her leaves
on the winds
carrying the cloudy
scurry of the sky
to the cindery lanes.

"where love is a song settling in the night"

you were the softness of feathers
and the harsh cadence of grief,

you were the sky's frail mists
and its glittering pools,

in the warm indigos of summer
i welcomed you home,

the sea with its engine pistons
played loud harmonics,

it wasn't the noise but quiet
i wanted most, the way i wanted you,

star silent, drifting like a boat.

break me like a twig,
bend my branches
in the sunlight.
tell me that i dream
and that dreams are
the golds of a yellow rose
that dreams are the
softest rivers of my mind.

oracle of sound
emotions deepening
ochre filaments
dark enchantment
summer shore.

i.

sea, oh, sea,
sail that
billows,
blind breeze
of whispering
sea.

ii.

water of curls,
bright path
bird of more,
bright bird of
shore
spreading
out, wings like
cloth.

iii.

rhythm and
******, springing
vault, floods of
water scattering
like light on the
set of the sun.

iv.

sea-rose of poise,
**** of black
bubbles, sea
of storm and
might.

v.

oh, sea, river of
my blood,
drowning dark,
drumming
sound of waves
giddy, washing
the shore
as if the night
could never stay
or the clouds
could carry
the thirsty brine.

i.

moon bird,
fire song,
tremoring desire,

dreams of love
soft as a cloud
carrying the grey rain.

ii.

a gorgeous winter sky,
the deeps tattooed
with light,
the sea a soft
shanty waiting
for the summer
breeze.

iii.

sharp breath of air,
lips like soft petals
of rose,
legs loud with longing

carrying love
like a cloud carrying
rain, crazy in love
with your heart
i'm your shiny mistress
all gold like the weak
winter sun.

iv.

i melt with desire,
black rock and
sighing sky,

i ache in your arms
a storm cloud before
the blowsy wind.

v.

iron sea,
breaking waves
in a watery harbour
of light,

kisses and sighs,
slow dance,
loving you
like the blossoming
light, like the
sea sweeping down.