I used to read your poems
but lately you don't write
you're silent and aloof
you know that isn't right.
You can't close a door once opened
you can't abolish all your dreams
you're a poet of the heart
mustn't fall apart at the seams.
Say what you can in words
they speak the message true
spoken from the heart
the poems will see you through.
A hermit's not your style
a recluse, you are not
never give up writing
of things that you've been taught.
I used to read your poems
I'd read them once again
if you would send them out
(this one's from a poet friend)

Oi B! Don’t sink
To the bottom of the sea
Don’t drown, in your
Nights out on the town
Keep some air
In your lungs
Find some passion
Away from the crowd
Put the spring
Back in your step
Be the B
You always were to me
Regain some rhythm
Or don’t
But don’t
Be rolled over
Before
You have
Realised

Melting
broken
twice right
cat's eyes
swishing tail
stuttering
stammering
seconds
making
solid minutes

Whit Howland © 2020

I'm a burden I'm a burdenI'm a burden I'm a burdenI'm a burden I'm a burdenI'm a burden I'm a burdenI'm a burden I'm a burdenI'm a burden I'm a burdenI'm a burden I'm a burdenI'm a burden I'm a burdenI'm a burden I'm a burdenI'm a burden I'm a burdenI'm a burden I'm a burdenI'm a burden I'm a burdenI'm a burden I'm a burdenI'm a burden I'm a burdenI'm a burden I'm a burdenI'm a burden I'm a burden

I need to die

A heart carved into the bark of a tree,
A bark from my dog by the side of my knee,
The light had faded,
So too had the hope
Of the boy in the boughs
At the end of his rope.