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*




○●
°

'love?' you say,
have a canapé
vulnerability
opens up our
jugular, to so

much hurt, to pain
be crushed and dashed
and maimed
destroyed with
utter disdain

we are contrarily
brought up
to be strong
independent
no one's fool

always look out
for number one
be proud, stand tall
headstrong, but
in pride, we fall

in that simple way
on any given day--
we are flawed lovers;
'love,' you say? here's
another canapé*




●○
°

'


uneasy presence 
of someone 
once known 
even loved - 

the space 
however 
gaping wide: 
cloying, 

suffocating; 
treacle bath 
easily sealing 
claustrophobic 
asphyxiation



_ _ ✒
○●
°

My quest for the 'extended metaphor' is flowing 
into the daily beat of my typical day. 

Something of my day is breathing out meaning and song - 
expressing and teaching me with whispers that can blare so loudly 
that their silence flashes blindingly with a brilliance that shadows 
the darkness and illumines the gentle curves of Truth. 

My quest takes me on a journey where I can no longer lay back and watch the rising and setting of the sun, the moon, and yes, even the stars that crown a head filled with dreams and thoughts in that sable field that is beyond and within us.... 

Something of this day shall imprint itself in my soul and yell out invectives.... grabbing my shoulders and throttling my awareness. 

My quest requires that I take on my gear and trek the unknown twists and turns, of unchartered horizons, and risk the possible heartache.... 
it compels me to be the sun, the moon, and yes, even the stars - traversing the vast expanse of universal experience.... 

Something in this day shall filter into my nights nagging and wailing, crooning and serenading - lifting my spirits with its rise and ebb.... and as I float on midnight blues and obsidian hues, I sense one thought forming: 

My quest is yours, and the universality of human experience shall meld our separate yet mirrored conditions into a unified expression of what we vainly and clumsily perceive and call 'love'.


__✒
○●
°

severed horizon,
when will we see you again
there's much in the way*




●○
°

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

from scared to scarred
stepping out into light
crossing over to over
there without looking
back again to second
thoughts is freeing of
both thought and that
paralysing fear from
some deep down spot
bruised again & again
it's a fair exchange to
be wounded, wound
up, trading on briskly
before markets crash-
nothing's ever fair or
much less given free

there was a vacancy in a place
where an abyss engulfed chastity
a concept strange and quite suspect
in a world were we value prospect;
a rarity to sanely slumber at night

and receive sagely uttered sentiment
whose aid in these moonlit promises
birth occupancy in vacillating crises
perhaps a constancy redeems piety;
another word that reveals this malady*



●○
°

Many dreams,
like bubbles
in a child's playtime,
drift away and pop.

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!

why are you so easy
to walk passed
but then so difficult
to forget?

a cattle brand
sears waking memory
scathe dreams of night
what remains of you

are rumpled bed-
clothes at sun up
and crumpled sheets 
on a litter-strewn desk*




●○
°

somewhere
in the sky
on a moist day
you may spy
a rainbow
hanging high

let that always
remind you
one shining
moment true
friendship's
promise renew

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

there is always
that one photo
that floats around the house,

that when you pick it up,  
picks up with it
a storm of memories

and jumbled feelings.

Still it floats
in random spaces,
lying in wait,

like a lioness
ready to pounce,
awaiting its prey*





___✒
●○
Cross reference: same poem (or at least same feeling; different words and different time-place)

I still can't look at your photograph
without choking up or getting ill
could I ever seriously consider
giving up my affections for you
why have you gone, so abruptly ahead?

Gazing upon your visage, on print
all knotted up and confused still
my emotions, rambling wild river
gaining us words no longer true
why am I left here with heart unfed?





___✒
○●

turn your gaze to power
of life and death:
they lie dormant,
seeded potentialities;

a flowers' expectantcy
in each quiescent tongue
and those who love either
will surely sup of their fruit*




●○
•

how many farewells
will it take to matter
less than this burning
shall warm wherever
tomorrow may takes us

Rough is the wind that flattens
a tree from its anchored moor,

a destiny not too quick to ruin
presents a whispered word to me:

on we traverse without respite
that weary road we take,

what imprint is left behind
that sweeps relentlessly against these walls--

a spectre of bygone landscapes
whose blustering gusts are raptured calls

red letter month
written on the cloud
an end to an end
now our sorrow send
death be not proud
red littered month

A barely audible creak greeted him
as he entered a still unfamiliar home.
Then a figure approached, step by step;
aged and wizened, unsteady at a walker.

Where it not for his gait and slouch,
he could have been any other.
Now, so much smaller, and frail;
not the monstrous terror of long ago.

There standing, a deer in the spotlight,
shaking off a child's phantom fright;
in the haze of ill-served remembrance;
realising that he loved his dad, all along.*



●○
°

You have a right
To bruised knees
And broken dreams
Disappointments
And promises kept,
To casts, itchy & graffitied
On either arm or leg
and tears on reddened cheeks;
Elation and defeat,
Snotty nose and blistered feet.
Yes, to these you have a right, and more,
Life's every essence, outside your door.

please be kind and wait
the bus is only slightly late,

catch your self as it timely calls
for thoughts do fly off far and wide;

allow your always drifting soul
to embrace its returning sun

your pen is my oracular divining
rod, for this parched throat

and in your breath an
impassioned plea escapes

in your sighs, release all
of life's dormant pleasantries.*




_ _ __ ✏
●○
°

'

*Data storage now keeps forgotten memories; 
images and words from jubilant revelries. 

The clock is a blur of digits these days 
and nothing is clear but tomorrow's maze. 

So off we go to bury unwitnessed sunsets; 
replacing our garden beds with plastic regrets. *




____✒
○●
°

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*




°

Once, so many years ago,
in a distant place and clime;
our thoughts and life we shared,
each move, in perfect time.

Words in unison, hearts pulsed,
so intimate, each gesture;
each expression, fears repulsed,
companions of great measure.

Now it seems we're worlds apart;
nothing more in common share.
The last desired thing to start,
to fray bonds beyond repair.

Tomorrow bears no sunrise
with correspondent promise;
about oneself, do realise,
quite a monstrous fate remiss.

This callow heart has not learnt
to let bygones be bygone;
from past flames this quill has burnt;
perhaps hope returns at dawn.

Beat upon this chest with song,
this erring mind do chasten;
free the earth you've held so long,
remind these feet to hasten.






____✒
.

There is a dull,
unidentifiable fondness
that sometimes surfaces
as a phantom itch
that when scratched
returns into the depths.

'

No longer looked up to 
at least not as much as before 
no longer consulted 
or given the usual care 

No longer do cogs congregate 
not even to syncopate 
Time keeps ticking away 
although this clock's hands stay 

Where has the cuckoo flown to? 
Where shall it alight? 
Somewhere the sand has rested, 
glinting like stars in the night. 





_ _ __ ✒
○●
°

Into a new dark age
we go, marching,
careening headlong

[of soapbox poetry
there is no want
for many voices
loudly rail and rant]

the terrain of our
condition and that
of our experience
has changed over
year upon year of
progress that brings
us closer to the edge
of a generation that
lives on the horizon

itself

peering further on

yonder

to challenges invisible
to our yet untrained minds

so a new era begins
pioneering unexplored
vastnesses and
before unrecognised
darknesses

while on the remotest reaches
bright lights we yet have
to define and harness

they beckon
to our whetted appetite
for tomorrows.

[Into itself, beyond vast darkness,
a remote beacon
shall illumine our destiny.]





____✒

You have the right
NOT to remain silent
Everything you say and do
Has been and will be
Used against you
Time and time again,
In the court of corruption.
So say and do it anyway,
like it was truth and
life and death to you.
You have a right
To an audience
If you can't afford an audience
Hello Poetry has been appointed to you!
Do you understand these rights!?
Word up and speak out
Even when your not spoken to!
Let out that primal scream of the soul.
Only the speechless rescind their rights.

arms close in
to entwine, as
two faces fade
one into the other
washing away

all care; on fire
two voices meld
one into the other
valiant crier
all truth rings pure

clear, in the dark
of night's embrace
no longer wrong
no longer right
erases day's fright*




_ _ __ ✏
●○
°

Love is in the horizon, 
it sits upon the sand; 
the whispers in the hallway, 
revealing secrets grand. 

It's dancing in the rain 
and in the blazing sun; 
the mighty flowing river, 
the voice of a long lost son. 

Love is in the desert, 
in the oasis' leafy fronds; 
the racing tiny tadpoles 
in lazy summer ponds. 

It's teary airport farewells 
and walks on a moonlit night; 
the gentle flowing breezes 
that stills the frightened heart.*



●○
°

she dances in fluid time
each step a perfect rhyme
to the drumbeat of my chest
in her embrace well blest

soft music fills the air
fragrance adorns her hair
when she leans in, near
dispels all my former fear

upon that chime of midnight
footsteps fade in dimming light
not a glass slipper left behind
perhaps ‘twas done to be kind*


●○
°

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

A barely audible creak greeted me
As I entered a still unfamiliar home.
Then his figure approached, step by step;
Aged and wizened, unsteady at a walker.

Where it not for his gait and slouch,
He could have been any other.
Now he seemed so much smaller,
Not the monstrous terror of long ago.

There I stood, a deer in the spotlight,
Shaking off a child's phantom fright;
In the haze of ill-served remembrance
Realising that I loved him all along.

here witness, arising
among us, divining
with brazen words
dividing

cloven footed
wandering
self-confessed Judas

blood-money filling
vending machines
keep this world
ever spinning*



●○
°

Farewell, days of summer
your sweat stains remain;
and those fading tan lines

blend into a chalk-like frame.
Let's point to autumn leaves
to hide paleness, underneath

folds of warm, cloistering sleeves.
Maybe our winter's hibernation
shall blossom into sparkly spring.*



_ _ __✒
●○
°

Gone underground.
You have turned and walked away.
It's not that there's now
Two meals on this tray.

So that is the score;
Don't come back,
Begging for more.
What's left is emptiness.

Go on and don't look back.
You've ravaged me to the core.
In view of which,
I can't say much more.

could represent an attempt
at presenting a lack of stimulus,  
either way, or at least
that's what can be surmised;

l i k e    s t r e  t c h i n g    o u t

an already blank existence,  
wall upon wall upon wall,
exacerbating this ocean swell
of emptiness that's bursting inside.*


●○
°

simply put:
freudulent
slips of(f) the thong



●○
°

(wedge tailed banality)

what have you done:
given voice to silence,
wings to unspoken thoughts,
face to emotions deeply masked;
solid darkness now made bright
when words, unutterable, take flight,
making them no longer alone*


●○
°

painting the net
with effrontery
crude, insolent
•••brazenness•••
and to what effect?

marionette making
puppets on a string
unshelled hermits
***** all riled up
quite entertaining--

so's the jerking knee
set your reflex free;
someone's therapy
should never, ever be
your online misery*




●○
°

I know it’s a bit lame, but here I stay,  

Hoping for a nod, a word, some say.  

Responses to my poems, thin but kind,  

They bring a warmth, a solace to my mind.



In every comment, human touch I find,  

A thread that weaves me closer to mankind.  

It's not much, yet it keeps my spirit bright,  

My daily dose of human touch each night.

Here, hear,
to the part of you
that no longer feels
that secret place
where a rainbow peels
each colour fading out
then glowing in
a time and place
where time stands still
See'r, sear,
her bright and varied flecks
imagination
is the eye of your soul!

whatever our persuasion may be
still at Christmas,
thoughts of kindness 
and eyes filled with wonder
seek for a connection
some one, somewhere, some part
fond greetings and warm gestures
from the depths of our hearts*



●○
°

Sing, through the flowing tears,
And laugh though it aches,
ask again for love in rejection's face
into the sun's first brilliant rays

Peer into that song and hear its heart
take along these raindrops' prisms
let them glow in the dark of night
its tune your comfort and companion

Hold your friend deep within your soul,
journey into the promise tomorrow holds,
fear fades with the passing of the storms,
the clouds disperse in the breath of hope.

Sleep softly, gently sing your lullaby
Wipe those tears that no one spies.
For sure your smile glows bright gold
in the sun's fading glory at twilight's dawn.

Into the distant shimmering sea
let dreams sail into the misty dusk
fond thoughts and dewdrop wishes
cared for by the twinkle of starry nights.

Is it not a foe who taunts —
that in itself could be borne
Is it not an enemy's tirades—
from them one could hide
Instead, an arrogant intimacy—
life's equal, companion & friend.

What close companionship
now scattered in the chill
of uncaring autumn winds
from familiar paths once  
walked together in gardens
of fond affection and glee.*


●○
°