when you read squiggled words
that bleed onto jaundiced pages
you'll hear a shadow and not see
the face and form of this poet
else, you would have yourself
come before an audience and
opened mouth and wagged tongue
within your sight and hearing;
but no, you can't even trace faint
restless lines traversing this face
nor animated inflection of tone
none to aid but yourself
as you pick feigned words
therein a vineyard to gather
your basket brimming over
later press, juice, or ferment.
So drink your fill of orphaned vine,
touch inebriated awareness; and
perhaps thereby our meanderings meet.

listen to the one who
has heard the voice of wheat
in ripening cornfields

to firmly believe there is
always opportunity for
a horse-carriage ride
through Central Park
despite chaotic impediment
amid the throng and buzz;
that is where living begins

warmth envelops
dissolving the
bustle and noise
liquid stillness
offers but a momentary
tranquil once upon a time
it is so easy to
drift off and forget

here the watery balm
soothes celiac rashes
a moment's reprieve
that shuts out reality
provides sombre retreat
cares float away
until unwanted thoughts
stray with blistered report

it is quite possible
through bolted locks
to lay hapless victim
to home invasion
for someone to play
Corday to one's Marat
unwitting and stabbed
at home in one's bath

sometimes indecisiveness
is just the wrongest decision
for anyone to ever make

sometimes we just have
to dive in and go with our gut
embracing whatever may result;

sometimes, apologies are enough
when things don't go your way
because it's time to do it mine

sometimes, getting first time right
is not what your life has shown
so, it's okay for me to have another go

it's only taken forty years for you
to realise you love me and be proud
perhaps another forty'll make you really care

your boomer ways are so busted
they don't work here and now
perhaps I need to find my own way

it won't break your ego to be supportive
respect is not earned but extended
perhaps you only need to trust & believe;

every time my child's heart breaks
a memory jolts this scathing parody
perhaps this curse can be broken still:

it doesn't take much to make it right

breathe:

      all else

      is
        do
          wn
            wa
                rd
                    spin*


○●
°

words whispered beneath willowy fronds, are autumn leaves carressing cheeks

thoughts rising from creamy pages of vellum bound tomes over a cuppa

feelings cascading between brushstrokes propped by elemental easel

images flicker on antiquated screens in the midnight hours pilgrimages

meaning; spectral apparitions that intermittently condescend our audience

there doesn't ever seem to be in them enough sense or consolation

scowling at threatening storm clouds
sombre as a brooding sky
these errant thoughts stumble
and flounder, leaving tear ducts dry:
exhuming an abundant cascade
of strained expressions that reflect
a stained and bedraggled soul whose
fond recollections fail to connect.

This is your ultimate admonition
To set perspective in proportion
Of an age old curse, set in motion
It's time to take out the tanning lotion!

Feet throb through well worn shoes
after a brisk walk to central station.
We keep our ears plugged with our beats
to finally find seated, at furtherest point;

Backs of heads, napes, and collars
mushroom away, stare blankly ahead -
polarised sunnies paint them bright;
choked only by an assumption of gain.

And all we see is a tiny reflection of we.
Here in our world another day begins:
a mourning of suited, tired paramours;
in this cosmos of peopled isolation.

when reasons
have changed,
transformed along

with circumstances
defined by those we
have allowed into our

             life

shaping us
charging us
releasing us

and giving new days
their tints and shades;
now open up jugular

and allow hatchets to fall
or celestial hosts in array,
rouses breath-bound to sing.

in its purest form
the simplest of
possible affirmations
is to be loved in return

in similar manner
the most complex of
probable affirmations
is reciprocating like affection

in conclusion, then,
it seems most apparent
to appreciate with reckless
abandon the air we breathe

for we build tomorrows
on these simplest, most
basic of molecules, our
humble bricks of being

boy, you've been hiding long enough
guarded your heart and thought
left scarce a clue and when you do
lead to elsewhere; screening those
eyes that seek to spy on you; boy

one day, when all lay at your feet
they shall realise you had no real
privilege, special or otherwise
you were and are just like every
other creature that ever breathed

and this world is as it is, after all
you learn to hide & dodge & roll
each bruise, each strike, each scar
are silent witnesses to journeys far
be still; envy is no friend of yours

perhaps you hung
around him a
little more than

what made for
awkwardness

call it hero
worship - infantile
idolatry; or just

a deep-seated
longing for an
older brother

that you never had

tall, smiling
confident;
nobody's fool

your rescuer when
you released the handbrake
sending dad's cadillac flying

downhill-
lumbering projectile
ravaging through

his mum's front hedge
over their pool,  onto
bar stools and wine bottles

Stevie hopped in, grabbed
and steered and braked
but nothing was never

ever the same again

violent inactivity
propagates haemorrhaging
of intimate volition
where in this vast
savannah wilder-nests
quietly spawn and

nurse elusive bunyips

perhaps their scatted
clues shall direct us
back to serenity or
perhaps volatility
shall remain until
tomorrow meets today

under the deck boards
sunlight filters on many
expeditions yet to start
and around the corner
a salivating dog guards
the entry way between
a dense hedge of green

our countdown now begins
hear its relentless ticking
a stuffed rabbit hurtles
it heckles at mocking tocks
'round a beaten racing track

come, let's rise and stop
'second hand from orbit
circumnavigated trips on
Picasso's addled clock, let
no moss inhabit our rock

As long as there are no longer
tears of sorrow and regret

May the kindest gestures
of filial affection ever beget;

our friendship has been
blest from shore to shore,

each wondrous exchange
our devotions now restore

your varied one-nighters
are a psychedelic journey
heavy on the shutter release
but leaving the lens cap on -
a self-guided tour for two
is far more appealing

Such loss still remains
even through the years
our words echoing
with poignant longing
each phrase, each line
seeking to hush our fears

done and dusted, deplorable stink
anxious cereal bowl filled to the brink
whose talk is faster than walking

height of vulgarity, hidden ingenuity
missed passes prelude missed opportunity
and flies stick petrified on shadowed ceiling

smoke rises
grains dance in the wind
and dogwoods are butterflies
that ride the sky

What I love about Canada
is her bold statement of stark,
pure white, interlaced with
lush green foliage and dark rock!
It's truly an impressive sight to behold!
But her auburn hues of fall leaves one breathless whilst sending hearts soaring and yearning in the one extended beat!

What I love about Canada
is her bold statement of stark,
pure white, interlaced with
lush green foliage and dark rock!
It's truly an impressive sight to behold!

s t r a n g e    d a y s
h a v e    f o u n d
s t r a n g e r    n i g h t s

30 December 2016:
Happy New Year?
Goodbye 2-0-1-6,
Farewell PF
Parting is such crushing sorrow- - -

such a beautiful uplifting
as you partake of and join in
this adventurous pursuit
of expression and articulation
of words and lines that adorn;
that shape and form this myriad
of otherwise hidden thought & feeling

how sad can we all be
we've killed off possibility
on the altar of selfish parody

smokescreen
tear gas and pepper spray
thick fog, dash display
wipers on overdrive
halogens burning bright
road ahead still dim
destination out of sight

Friends that are dear to me
I hope I shall ever see
Our wings soar ever free
Let the four winds so decree!

a solitary avian
fork tailed violet
happened upon
a sylphid sprite
the one gave song

the other gave a
sentinel's vow
back to back
through eons
secrets keep

these thoughts like refined gold,
after years of firing in a kiln,
and they're burning ever hotter
spilling onto sheets of paper
smouldering stains never fade
indelible impressions never old

when we walk together
and in the one shadow
twin coffees and plates
purchases and invites
rec leave and tickets too;
bite sized chunks of life for two

in irony, walk the earth
on chopped green impetus...

game over; roll over
turn your heads around
smell the 4-leaf clover
1 day truth shall abound
with angel trumpet sound
an infant's primal cry
and all tears wiped dry

We are wise not to meddle
with the words of yon Muse
allowing them to touch us
avowed by torchlit trysts 
each thought cradled in nettle
elegaic vine rows muse
such fearsome elegance behold!

bleak and blistered
tundraic whispers howl
with deft tendrils of
liquid nitrogen, then
in a flurry of dust devils
this landscape's void of
voices once more

there must be light still
at willow creek, though
I'm a million miles away

there's a reason for everything 
though ours is still out there
what remains is your empty chair

this season of grief has lingered 
seven years tarried too soon
an abysmal moment here; marooned*




●○
•

nothing held sacred;
make our heads churn,
no one deemed holy
save our only concern

value of waning life
drowned by strife's urn
no elegance of phrase;
wordless grace return*





●○
°

in spite of what surrounds us
whatever circumstances are
we are learning to find peace
within ourselves
regardless of what's

going on around us,
learning to self-soothe
kind of thing and find
we all are coming through
to the other side, strong

persons we've missed;
our friendships through
a new season approaching
and a sense begins to form
that peace rising up from

inside the very core of you!
and it's a happy moment
this first day of autumn
here, although summer
is quite happily overstaying

so colours are changing
and the breeze is blowing
face the horizon, your hair
a banner waving, highlights
in sun beams, catch and shine

was it grafted interference
or was it incompetence
all this time, scraping moss
across unguerneyed pavers

each exercise a shocker
grating petition to the ear
a swinging fence gate
badly in need of repair

confines of mindscape
confides shadowed landscape
coffin lids fastened tight
custodial strife bite where

finer emotions reside
convivial memories collide

custom denial define
comport in social decline
coffers fill with loose change
combined prognoses engage*




_ _ __ ✒
●○
°

hard as we try to remember
grinding up mindless banter

green grass, yellow slander

what good is hay to a dead horse,
or a spring dried at its source?*




_ _ __✒
●○
°

do not let your heart be dismayed
nor allow your countenance to fall
the shadows that surround are many
their stretching tendrils make you small

even a tiniest spark breaks darkness

and brightens up the darkest night*


●○
°

Back in the day it was horrible 
to make a public spectacle of oneself. 

But these days we've outdone ourselves - 
and though we march to our own drums

more than ever before - 
it's moment by moment,

up close and overly personal:
we do so "in your face,' 

snapchatting, webcamming, wickrdly off--
and that can be a never ending disgrace!*




●○
°

Much like Icarus, off they go; 
until condensation metes them 
reality's condescension:

Whose goals and objectives
are minute in life's greater scheme; 
wings fashioned from floss harps-

Yet they soar each firmament;
nary a doubt would sway resolve;
no tempest or tumult could dissuade.

If you chance upon a cloudless day
catch their echo of jubilant cries
and contemplate your turn to fly.*





●○
°

an end blended
and send word
with meaning bended

our escape now
a band of sand
on an island bound

tomorrow's bond
lifts these eyes
ever upward*




○●
°

courtliness promenades
intimate exchanges
crystal refractions

burst in a myriad
of coloured light
music to one's toes

jazzy fingers and
ballet chin, poised:
poetical interludes*





●○
°