It flies amongst the stars.
Flashes for a moment.
Despite the left scars.
Holds a place close, yet far.

It carries the fallen.
From mistaken paths.
To reaches impossible.
And develops new plans.

It creates new countries.
Raises dead soldiers.
Stamps unsung heroes.
With a feeling of free.

Hear its silent sound.
Open up your eyes.
Place it in your heart.
Elevate from the ground.

It helps us climb.
Better than rope.
Do you see its shape?
It is hope.

my trauma home looks like
a blighted ecosystem
thriving with atoms that
name themselves anxiety
name themselves self-doubt
name themselves a graveyard
where no hole is big enough to
hide the defecation, the diseased,
the gap between these ribs.
i want to rip myself open
with alcohol,
watch my body coil up like a snake
watch myself come undone
watch myself spill secrets
in *****
like alphabet soup but thicker.
the spiders look enlarged, enraged,
enveloped in their webbed paradise
waiting for me to land on sticky skin.
the sharks find their next prey by blood, but the only way i will draw blood is by biting my tongue too much.

i am the femme fetale who
doesn't see the lights of the train
but lures people towards the tracks
i am the siren who doesn't know
her singing creates destruction
ensnaring victims with her voice
i am the whirlwind that creates
sinkholes with warm words
soft embraces, gentle whispers,
i am the quiet
before the explosion of a grenade
i am the explosives
but i look just like alluring magic
when you sink down here,
pitch black becomes your muse
instead of the kaleidoscope you
seemed like you were expecting
you swallow me, all warm words,
all soft embraces, all gentle whispers,
but embracing me is like a car crash
where the impact may be fatal

It was a graveyard and overcast sky
and I sat with book and accordian in hand,
hearing the world with its screams
swallow up around me.
The people whom I had loved and lost,
Papa with his silver eyes
Mama her sharp tongue and tough love
Rudy whose hair the colour of lemons
and questioned why, the living and dead,
worlds apart, yet both did not have a choice.
I stood and screamed so that everything shook
the burning rubble and ash and dust
willing my words to bring it all back
but it did not come, and my breath rose in gasps.
Death had looked me in the eye and said,
“It’s not time yet.”
I would shut my eyes to the world
only decades later.
I will understand that there was hate and pain
there was sadness
but even more so, there was love and joy.
I will know that the people I loved had reason
to kiss goodbye
whether it was their own hurt
or saw it as a necessity,
but they were never truly gone from me
always somewhere nearby,
in the thick and thin
frail and worn
of times.
I would learn
to forgive Death that day.
I will understand that
and I will be hurt,
but I will be okay.

~

Not all deaths are sad.
Some, meant to ease their own pain,
Are called freedom.
While some,
Meant to ease the pain of others,
Are called love.

© BT

"Not called at a bad time have I"
The clock announced half past four
"You are looking grand Annie"
Said the old sop leaning on the door.

"Let go of this and I'll fall" he said
She considered a gentle push
"Keeping me upright this is"
She now wished she'd got a brush.

"Looking great for your age you old trout"
she seethed inside and didn't reply
"how about me and you ,together"
her reply - not a chance I can get by.

"You and me are a team
fetching and carrying my special tea
You never know your luck
I could get down on one knee"

Perish the thought she held the thought
Is this all I have now- is this all that's left
she visualised scraping the barrel
she could get less stress for theft.

She thought her 90 years had served her well
Maybe if her teeth were her very own
She put her hands around her girth
maybe she could lose a few stone.

She wanted a younger man
Not a wrinkled and smelly drunk
Whose hair had disappeared and
his whole person had shrunk.

Maybe one day I will get my catch
Annie would perhaps be happier than this
She rolled her hairnet over the sponge curlers
and the drunk had planted on her a big kiss.

I stroll along a familiar path
that leads to nowhere
but it is somewhere to me
but then is life fair.
This path leads me straight
so that no deviation is necessary
as straight as a dogs leg
but then I am not fussy.
we pass hills too steep to climb
streams -too cold to face
clover, daisies and chalk we pass
now we have to pick up the pace.
The daisies remind me of you
pure yet straight laced
the clover makes me blush
are we tied to the same brush?
The wind sweeps the land
cleaning it of unwanted leaves
deep down it needs a good clean
the universe believes.
Dumping ******* on the earth
sweeps the mind of guilty men
this walk,I believe will eventually
happen once again.

He walks in, khakis cuffed
Nikes laced tight.
He says, "I know hip hop is dead
But Imma revive it tonight".
He picks up the mic
While they laugh cause he's white.
He pays no mind,
Just steps into the spotlight.
Their jaws drop
When he starts to spit
They've never seen his match,
He's on that real ****.
He ran out of rhymes, he's freestylin' now
And every syllable, like a puzzle piece, fits.
There's a smile on his face now,
He knows he's legit.
He drops the mic
And walks away,
Doesn't look back
Its more impactful that way.
Everyone just stares
They don't know what to say
All they know, deep inside,
Is hip hop was reborn that day.