The feeble glow
of yesterday's myths
and illogical legends
drift into obliquity
where the pallid shapes
of old friendships
and silhouettes of demented heads
merge
with a splash of light
on the satirical side of solemnity
in the pursuit of profundity.

Rebuffed
by expressionless faces
you'll never meet.

An image
can't be identified
through a distorted lens.

Weary words
defrost
as egotistical dreams.

Points of view
compete with self-esteem
and dysfunctional genes.

One evening
after work
I began to walk
from the railway station
along the footpath
joining an acquaintance
on the way
to accompany and converse
amicably I thought
at first
but he became aloof
and hostile
ignoring my bonhomie
why
I had no idea
so crossed the road
estranged
shocked and ashamed.

The pale ghost of dawn
A grove of trees
Faded derelicts
Without leaves
A tracery of branches
Bent and twisted
Shades of grey
On a cold, grim day.

Disaffection
Evil minds online
Contempt fro coquetry
Worshippers of perversity
A prelude to profanity
Barely covering
Membranes of morality
On the dark side of the mind.

The shape
of blissful thoughts
float like melodies
in the breeze
as limericks of love
to Nacy and me.

There's nothing left
but expectations
and wet sand
on melancholy evenings
beside listless tides
and lengthening shadows.

A private party
Etudes
People around me
Vanity and beauty
From where I sat
A glow of hope
In an ashen sky
Abandoned arguments
Reviews and dismal news
Changing moods
Pauses for profanity
Shadows and reality
Simulacrums
Patented predictions
Solemnity and sorrow
Corpses for the coroner
Silence.

The bloom of beauty
and the sweetness of a kiss.

Dreams that glide
ebb and flow with the tide.

Slumbering clouds
the glimmer of a dawning sky.

Clouds cover
the delicate pinks
clear and opalescent
of a blushing sky

Electric light
over avenues
of midnight trees

Wagering
throwing dice

Moving wandering
between themes
of obscure dreams

Passing time
wondering

Waiting
for tender flesh

Barbecued pork

The curve
of a female form.

Love blooms
like a rose
eternally beautiful.

Lazy days
of wonderment
betrayed by age.

Beauty remains
as time passes
fades, then decays.

Playing games
Tranquil moments
Innocent days
The weight of emptiness
Introspective interludes
Scenes you'll never see
Ephemeral truths
Doubts
The enigma of love
Dogmas and doctrines
The pattern of waves.

The way to the city
on both sides of the street
was discretely displayed
then replayed
as recollections of the mundane
inequitable and respectable
a ubiquitous ritual
with screams of laughter
cries from shouting houses
and grimacing faces.

Glimpsed of innocence
Casually met
Words from strangers
A lot in common
Wine and smiles
Unsolicited lies
Cool distaste
Remnants of disrespect
Cracks in the ice
The inevitable rift
Fragmented faces
The corrosion of moments.

Elephant seals
gross and flabby
ignorant of protocol
ponderously scratch.

Uniformed unicorns
importune
tame peacocks
wearing pink petticoats.

Fluted columns fade
at twilight
into the secrecy
of a passing thought.

Toy soldiers
on parade
fragile, glittering
lost.

The slow slide of the sea
laps the sand
pauses, then slips back again.

Waves grow with the wind
changed by the currents
and tides that ebb and flow.

The future flees
fretful and forgetful
into the whimsy of the night.

An Aussie digger
killed in battle
but disinclined to die
returns to the front line
as a spectre
wearing a slouch hat
and a larrikin grin.

Draped in a tattered flag
he yells
'Remember Korea, lads
and Vietnam
and how we went
all the way
with Menzies and L.B.J.'

'Don't forget Gallipoli
men
or the fight for peace
with George
in Iraq and Afghanistan
against Al Qaeda
and the Taliban.

'Defeat the enemy
mates
to secure the future
as our heritage
of service
patriotism and pride
in U. S foreign policies.'

Questions curdle
Each disdainful day
A glowering cloud
The threat of rain
Pounding footsteps
Troughs of anguish
Wavering moments
Images of altercations
The pleasure of detesting
Chocolate cake
Flavoured with money
Resentful ripples
Washed up on rocks
Drowning sounds
Solemn and deep
Slowly sinking
Disconcerted water birds
Shimmering reflections
Echoes in the darkness
Displaced by contradictions
Clanging, banging
Bouncing *****
Dissolving memories
Misplaced optimism.

Relatives of dead convicts
with debauched faces
and curly headed sailors
sing morose melodies
to the wail of saxophones
screaming strings
clashing cymbals
and the rattle of kettle drums.

Little boys
unsupervised
genetically designed
like toys
beguiled by fantasies
spontaneously play
improvised games
like actors
with imagined scripts
depicting violent scenes
as common themes
reflecting personalities
blooming slowly
in the park
at the bottom of the street.

The soul rises
inspired
by paintings
colours
shapes and tones
harmoniously juxtaposed.

A bird soars
towards the sky
floats
then swoops.

The melody
flows, swells
surges then fades.

An intermezzo
with solo clarinet
or perhaps a piccolo.

Linked words
in a poem
flow like piano notes
rhythmically, melodically.

Patterns float
obscured
by uncertain mists
recreating
a scene perceived
and painted
in washes of water colour
overlapping, merging
transfixed
fresh and timeless.

The shape
of routine activities
unpredictably change
or shatter
behind
the inexorable advance of time
as sequences
inevitably retreat
into a fading future
until the circle is complete.

Hands like guillotines
sever ties
flee fleeting moments
of traumatic scenes
and gay parades
on ink-stained clouds
blushing like mushrooms
tinted by the sun.

You may never know
my disenchantment
floating languidly
in mellow water
where images
of trampled earth
mix with madness
in a playground
with children
running, jumping
to soliloquies of sadness.

Patterns of neglect
reside at intersections
with doubts
and the relics of disrespect.

Wounded victims
hide
behind barricades
of anxiety and mistrust.

Gaps for sorrows
coincide with thoughts
trembling
like piano notes.

The ugly side of paradise
immortal, immoral
eluded the glimmer
of an impassive sun.

Oases defined
by the purity of light
shimmer
somewhere outside the mind.

Puffs of thistledown
floating in the air.

Lovely lady
dark blue plums
and the tracery of lace.

'Toot' says a trumpet
to the cry from a clarinet.

Tinkling piano notes
flowing
lilting, rippling, fleeting
fleeing.

Bows, strings and violins.

Echoes of yesterday
fading into grey.

'I do care'
Pleas for decency
Jokes on toast
Cool shadows
Pale blue
Slowly changing
Fading
A baby smiles
Peaceful peacocks
An apple tree
Wading birds
Bouncing sounds
Pony rides
Ping pong *****
Everywhere.

Honesty today
equates
with the sale of reality
legally and expediently
as a placebo
for propaganda.

The glitter of strobe
gratuitous gaiety
platitudes
and sanctimonious guile

******* cocktails
on the menu
an ingratiating mask
a gratified grin

Contorted vocal chords
lots of laughter
no time for irony
look at me.

Imprisoned
by boundaries of time
lost moments slip away
into an eternal abyss
wandering
outside the mind
alone
unable to wonder
where only infinity
and truth reside
unrecognisable
amidst the elemental
molecules of matter.

Sad faces
Indiscreet dreams
Platitudes and penance.

Secluded thoughts
Glimpses of posterity
Legacies and lotteries.

Tributes to the dead
Blasphemous flowers
Anonymity and indifference.

Rhapsodic moments
Sublimely rising
Singing
Blissfully blending
Piano notes
Exquisite, sweet
Rapturously surging
Precise and pure
Tumultuous as the rain
Overflowing
Rippling, rolling
Thunderous drums
Effulgent, ecstatic
Crashing crescendos
Rising and falling
Passionate sounds
Exultant, blissful
Harmonious melodies
Serene and sensuous
Tender as a kiss.

No one listens
Friends seldom seen
'I'm all right'
Cancelled conversations
Happiness on demand
Courses in tautology
Reverent respectability
Chimes lost to time
Disconsolate coverlets
Scenes from lonely places
Litter on the streets
You're on your own.

A bird sings joyfully
in the tranquillity of a moment
as the sun rises
without pretences or affectation
over canned compliments
anguish, alienation
scrambled egos and lonely words.

Prepare to be entranced
by symphonic sounds
acuity and beauty
displays of pique
explosions of profanity
evocative waves
of love and adulation
restrained tones
profound as shadows
crossing a motionless road.

Saturated meat
floating in a sea of melancholy
spite and olive oil.

Arrogance
the elegance of autocracy
'Take the plate away'.

Discrete pleas
beneath a blasphemous sky
defeated by the heat.

Happiness postponed
by procrastination
and moments of hostility.

The shallow breath of loneliness
oppressed the room
trapped like pictures hanging on the wall
a sullen sideboard
carpet sprouting monkey flowers
spider webs, bare table legs
forgotten moments
thoughts unexpressed
the wind screaming to be let in.

Pangs of loneliness
creep like shadows
and fleeting images
sad and solemn
of truants hiding
stealthy as the slide of tides
observed with half-closed eyes
finding freedom in perversity
and the serenity of silence.

Flirting with dreams
and myths
a fling with Aphrodite
so **** in a bikini
lying on the sand
with ivory skin
finely formed arms
swelling *******
slender waist
navel
sumptuous buttocks
flaring hips
and convex belly
comely thighs on either side
with calves and feet
perfectly poised
the purity of ******
for all eternity.

The sad saga
and brittle memories
for the cast and crew
of a sinking melodrama.

No badinage
their faces turned away
silent as secrecy
in the bright artificial light.

Rewinds of prototypes
of decaying greys
with visions
that glare at shadows.

Facile flirtations
Sighs and sorrows
The depth of brevity
Sonorously sinking
Rising slowly
Washed by the rain
Drifting
The swollen ocean
Rolling, pounding
An avalanche of sound
Cascading, sublimating.

Silence
inside a train
is the only sound
of life outside.

Along a road
a melody grows
flirting
with the countryside.

The river
wide and turgid
flows
to a relentless rhythm.

Sometimes
a flute plays
between rays of sunshine
and whispering winds.

Clouds swell
in a darkening sky
to the groans
of a sombre trombone.

Inside
listen to the rain
watch it slash
at the window panes.

A solitary solecism
An evaporating vision
Premonitions and superstitions
Withered hopes
Amorphous, insubstantial
Episodic swings
Digressions and detours
Evasions, deviations
Changing lanes
Accelerating and overtaking
Swerving
Inhibitions colliding.

Strobes
yellow, pink and blue
bounce and change
with a relentless rhythm
probing faces bathed in gold
arms waving
wailing, accelerating
adrenalin pumping
surreal orange skin
shining eyes, hypnotised.

Sculpted by the tides
Marble faces
Cold embraces
Listless lies
Float in the wind
Drifting boats
Sink and disappear
A diaspora of shadows
Misanthropic memories
Malevolent, mimicking.

Fragrant rain
legends of decaying days
pools of darkness
isolated moments
clean white skin
manicured hands
and stylish stubble
in an unmade bed.

A mouth
opens and closes
eating food
talking to you.

Unkind eyes
that perceive
scrutinise
and deceive you.

Disinterested time
ticks apathetically
in the negativity of silence.

Cocooned inside rooms
on elongated days
without vanity or aspirations.

Momentary moods
meander
between boredom
and the futility of hoping
for anything
other than storms
and anonymity in the darkness.

Live
inside the execution chamber
a stocky warden
poker-faced and middle-aged
begins
the medieval ritual
with words of cold indifference
addressed towards
Ted's emotionally dead
terrified head.

A warder
grim-faced
stands to one side
arms folded
as two others
begin to buckle
thick leather straps
around Bundy's ankles
wrists and chest
to the chair.

No cold condolences
the electrodes
on top of his head
a black mask
covering his face
until the signal is given
a raised arm
to the executioner
hooded in black
who pushes a lever.

Bundy's body arches
spasmodically convulses
tensely straining
paroxysms
the neck taut
head stretched back
blood oozing
from the nostrils
then slumps
and is pronounced dead.

The warders
remove the crown
and mask
unbuckle the straps
as the chamber empties
and the executioner
doffs the black hood
to reveal
appropriately
a beautiful woman.

Ghosts of the day
give way
to the gloom
between street lights
where shadows move
in the sourness of solitude
when little changes
except time, tides
and dreams
with a variety of themes.

The precocity of a newborn day
Floating anecdotes
A glaring sun
Phony probity
A scrambled sky
Fleeing clouds
Slapped by the wind
Contrasting greys
Swirling around
Decadent, dim.

Sweet and seductive
The twilight
Can I come in?
No need to worry
Frustrated moments
Tempting lies
Please don't scream
I'll be discrete
Caresses recollected
Old embraces
******* and bathos
Fur instead of hair
Movements in a mirror
Time for breakfast
The appearance of a peach
Fried sentences
Scrambled words
Rhyming couplets
Tea and coffee
Contradictory conversations
Flee from open mouths.