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Broken pieces,
Warmed to melting point by kind words,
Until they could be moulded back,
To be whole again.

Metal heart,
Tied to it's past so strongly,
Touched lightly and it chimes,
As two collide.

Shaking fingers,
Too weak to press the waiting keys,
Until steadied by another's,
Caring hands.

Lost hope,
Hidden in the shadows until,
Another outshines loss,
With perfect love.
I don't want to write another poem about your eyes
But every morning when you wake up
And let them drift open,
Is like a second sunrise
And every night,
As you fall into dreams,
I can just sit there for a while,
And hear as the very earth,
Breathes slow and rests with you.

So stay with me tonight,
In the dark, be my light,
And gently,
With but a whisper,
If at all,
May I repeat my worship
Of two glistening gasps of creation.
A second chance,
To change your focus,
To repair the fragments of your mind,
To find a new solution to life,
To redesign your soul,
And restart your heart,
To forget the past,
And erase the scars,
To believe in love,
And trust in friends,
To restrain your hate,
Restrict your pain,
And fill the emptiness behind your eyes,
This is the chance not of one lifetime,
But of two,
Don't waste it.
A streetlight struggles,
Weakly jabbing at the dark
Making little impression
But the reflection upon that
Solitary flagpole
To a rebellion against
The unphased
Turning of the cosmos.
Its feeble glare
Little more than a haze
Of pale yellow
A smudge upon nothing.
And there on the screen,
At 7:49
The words for which I've waited
But never believed were mine

I'd prepared myself for failure,
Readied for defeat,
But now all fear is lifted
And I cannot speak

Because my future is secured
A degree awaits my hands
And beyond it so many options
I never thought I'd have

And I know, for once, I earned this
I worked hard, I pushed myself
So whatever comes of this
I deserved to do this well
Flicking through yellowed pages
Of words written by younger hands
Of tormented scrawlings
Of tear-soaked memories
And love-eyed tales of autumn
Hoping to find something new
In what mattered back then
Or how the world looked
When seen through a mask
I've got to get out
Of a cage
That I built with me inside
I've got to take off
The cloak
That I made too big so I could hide
I've got to untie
These chains
That held me out of sight
I've got to be free
Of myself
Tonight

I've got to forget
The fear
And walk on my own feet
I've got to release
The pain
And turn from my defeat
I've got to believe
That I
Can be more than just a rewrite
I've got to be free
Of myself
Tonight
Reaching out,
Chasing, grabbing,
Clawing at something so real,
But it fades in your grasp,
And becomes no more,
Than ripples in the past
A cooling fan whirs,
On my weary laptop,
Sat on my lap as I rock,
In the rocking chair.

I'm frantically typing,
Frantically writing,
With anger and passion,
While all others sleep.

I switch on the light,
With the light switch,
And stretch out my arms,
And close my eyes.

I block out the light,
I just created,
And whisper a gentle prayer,
To the God I know.

I tell God I'm scared,
Of scary things,
And I'm hurt,
By painful things.

I tell God I cry,
When I feel sad,
Because people are cruel,
And say I'm sick.

I tell God all these things,
That they already know,
But I know they're important,
So I keep talking.

I talk about people,
And things that are wrong,
And whether I'm one,
Of those people who are wrong.

And then I look at the time,
And my thoughts are all gone,
Because I suddenly feel so tired,
Because I need to sleep.

So I stop rocking,
In that rocking chair,
And take the laptop,
Off my lap,
I turn off the light switch,
To switch the lights off,
And I leave the room,
Close the door,
Go upstairs,
And sleep.
An epic battle
Of numbers against paper
Of ideas versus plans
A determination to defy
The rules the world is governed by
And bring inconceivable to life
Upon the hills this morn
a soft mist lingers
the haze broken only where
sunlight shines harshly on rooftops
and rivers.

A border of trees between our
clear skies and the gentle smoke
across the valley
here the air takes nothing away
from the beauty around.

Sheep graze, heads down
never pausing to look
unlike the birds, who take in all
they can with tiny beads
of eyes.

The clouds are moving fast today
in utter stillness they run
across my view until they are
gone. Or I lose
patience.
Straining to reach the notes,
Stretching to soar above all,
And deliver some message beyond words,
Outside reason and apart from logic,
And behind the sound, I must make it sound
As if I am simply singing,
Into the brass tunnels and letting them
Turn my song to music.
It rose beneath our feet,
A rock, a testament to days we lost,
It trembled with our hearts,
And shook us free from selfish dreams,
To fix our eyes above,
Below,
Around,
Outside ourselves,
To care about the colour of the sky,
Or the way grass smells in the morning,
Or the intricate patterns in an insect's wing,
And our horizon grew,
And fell out from our grasp,
And ran towards the sun,
Which began to rise in the mornings,
Set in the evenings,
And every so often,
Mingle with the structures of our own hands,
And we began to sing,
And dance,
And whisper sweet nothings,
And hush our hatred,
For want of innate love - that we'd forgotten how to find.
I need to stop listening to the
music that makes me say these things
that really should remain unspoken
or at least no more than implied.
I held myself back for so long
but nothing seems to keep me
from wanting you to join me
and hear these songs by my side.
I wish I could tell you in words
why I'm so afraid to say all these
things which mean so much to me
and to you perhaps in time.
But instead I mess up and use far
too many ellipses to show you how
nervous I am but all they do
is confuse and remove all rhyme
Leave this place,
You do not belong,
Your feet should not touch,
Nor stride nor pace,
On this soil, no mortal feet,
May step or wander,
For here is the place,
Where the Gods meet.
A spider's web:
Invisible when the clouds come,
But when the golden streaks of light make their way,
Through some pathway of nature's design,
A pattern of perfect engineering,
Shows itself for a shy moment,
until it fades back to the safety of disguise.
Proven truths become
Cracks in the ice
Keeping us from plunging
Into a suffocating void
Living only by the
Facts we're fed
That keep us breathing
But only just
And slowly poisoning
Our brains.
The chance, it's there!
Left! No, right!
But too late, the decision delayed,
And straight down the middle,
Denied. Again.
When will the luck break?
Can the bad run end?
A drought, everlasting,
Dry mouth, hungry,
Starving for the one hint,
And there again!
Another chance, charging for it,
Oh the taste! Satisfied at last.
Writing over,
The words I last thought
Meant something.

They blur beneath these,
Punctuation in. the wrong places
That. I couldn't quite erase.

My new idea is unclear,
Messy, chaotic,
It will not merge with what I thought,
Meant something.

Will this mean anything?
Or will these words do no more
Than mess up the next lot?
.                            Their eyes scan,
searching for some
                          sight with more meaning than just an image.

Then eyes to the page and screen, hands to the cold.
Focus on some impossible feeling that could never quite
make it to the paper without
                                                    disruption.
­
                                                        And eyes close, forming truths.
                                          How best to commit the scent, sound or colour?
                                              How to restore an idea -  a concept so clear
                                                       in their minds but none besides?

The right word - eyes fix, then
               jump and dart,
                             away from those half-formed thoughts - then
               back, return to the same place, the same moment that was
               but then never was again.
That moment that would be lost, but for the words so
desperately scrawled.
Falling foul to playing the part,
Two intense, no longer,
Now three-to-one,
And losing sight of the quarters that were mine,
Yet perfectly rising, harmony bold,
Still half-baked, at least in my head,
Not ready for heaven, and many more to go,
Before redivided, yet still the same
Purr against my heart, a nudge back,
And I stretch those old-new fingers once more.
The marks on my window,
The scars of past journeys,
The imperfect reminders,
Of a thousand other stories,
Of other tiring souls,
Other busy souls,
Restless souls,
Who, watching the same dismal landscape,
Found thoughts wandering,
The same way,
To somewhere darker now gone,
To somewhere brighter, still to come,
To the time if only they could change,
To a time they long to know again,
To a time far away,
From those marks on the window,
And the stifled, silent tears,
As they cried a journey,
From.city centre on a train.
I wandered these lands,
And took to the seas,
With the rage of war at my back,
The promise of blood ahead.

I saw wonders,
And the remains of fallen lives,
For millennia,
I searched - futile.

I stumbled aimlessly,
Into conflict I couldn't understand,
And with one shot,
I was killed at evil's hand.
In forgetting a five minute act
Six hours condemned to discomfort,
The irritation upon my face
Will not fade until scratched away
And here I have no blade,
No sharp edge to free myself
From the torture of this body
That will not stop hurting me
Until I break it
And am reborn from its remains
I am the words on a tomb
Escaping my end
I am a crack in the room
That I won’t leave again
I’m a mistake in the womb
Afraid to repent
I am delaying the inevitable

I am the salt in the wound
That messed with your head
I am the already doomed
Who won’t go to bed
I am the coal consumed
To dispose of the dead
I am delaying the inevitable

And I don’t know why I’m clinging on
So hard that my fingers are raw and bleeding
And I don’t know how I’m keeping on
Going when my life signs are no longer reading
But I’m desperate to ruin the rest of my life
That’s already rubble and dust
So I’m oiling my electrics and recharging my joints
So the short-circuits can run through the rust

I will keep going long after I’m dead
I will keep coming back after the memories are gone from my head
So visit grave and you’ll hear my laugh
‘Cause under the dirt I’m alive
Chip away,
Piece by piece,
At the unrefined granite,
Erode each layer,
Define it further,
Find the perfect contours,
The creature within,
That lives and breathes,
But beneath a prison of rock,
And you hold the key,
A chisel,
Take it away,
Chunk by chunk,
Reveal the true form,
Let its eye see again,
Let its fingers reach for the sky,
Perfected,
Not created,
Reduced,
From rough stone,
To beauty.
I refuse to be one more broken heart
They may try to hate us,
But won't be ripped apart.

I will not be another fallen dream
I know that you can be
The stitches to my seams.

Time and fear will take our hands
And pull you from my grasp
But distance cannot stand against
A love that's built to last.
There was nothing left there for me,
There was nothing left to say,
So I left on a new path,
To find my own way.

But when I went,
I didn't know where I was going.

I've been searching for the way to go,
I've been searching for a new direction,
But I didn't know how far to run.
You helped me to find my own truth,
And you helped me to find understanding.
And now you're leading me along a route I don't know,
But I will trust your judgement.

I knew you'd made me happy,
And I'll always be thankful.
But I've been lost for so long,
I didn't realise I'd been found.
And now, finally,
I know what I did wrong,
From the very start.

I needed help,
But I didn't know it,
So it just kept growing,
And growing, and growing.
Until it outgrew me,
It overtook me,
But I kept reaching for it.

Until finally, after all this time,
You came and averted my eyes,
And I saw a glowing, blinding light,
That destroyed all the lies,
I've been saying in my own mind.

Because I needed help,
But I didn't need to change,
Because you love me for who I am,
*Not who I want to be.
'There is still time' I
Tell myself again just to
Excuse my failure
"Stop making me giggle,"
He can't stay serious,
We can't stay serious,
Never a moment longer than a breath,
Wasted with the necessity,
Of words not painted with gold
Smiles.
Run to home
My four walls of white
The comfort and freedom
Of emptiness.

Settle down
In my old wooden bed
Let the memories flow
Ideas fill me.

Write them down
Then close my eyes
And drift from my four walls
To boundless dreams
Why are my eyes widest in the dark?
When there's less to see,
No light to see by,
I strain to see the details.

As the shadows creep across and pull the curtains closed,
I find subtly lighter shades of night,
Paint colours far more vivid,
Than the tones of daytime.

The harder it is to see, the more truth the dark reveals,
The tighter fatigue's fingers wrap round my waist,
The more I want her embrace,
And soon I'm smothered in purest black,
Where I feel at home,
At peace,
Until the crack of dawn sends me to sleep.
The night is too dark,
Its shadows hide so many,
But I love it still
A song lies in the shadow on the wall,
Cast by an unused guitar,
Beneath its tiring strings,
A hoodie tossed aside,
A story of rebellion lies within,
Those man-made fibres,
Dyed black as the hair I wish I had,
And resting on the sleeve,
Forgotten,
Glasses,
That let me see clearly,
And now all is a blur,
But the poem I write,
To remember and cope,
Another night,
Another day.
The world around,
Is filled with shadows,
With judging eyes,
And crushing hands.

I cower away,
And keep myself,
To myself,
Until it hurts too much.

And the darkness calls,
Corners me,
Drives me from truth,
Into lies for the sake of others.

But lies hurt too,
And they darken the mind,
Pull it apart with cruel confusion,
Until it's too late.

Don't be a shadow,
Don't make us lie,
Let us be ourselves,
And shine.
Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, in memory of all those killed by hate crime, discrimination and suicide in the transgender community.

We don't want to lie about who we are, we want to be who we are.
Society makes us afraid to do that - let's change that.
Fingers, tremble
In your craze-driven dance.
Tendons, tighten
In your maddening trance.
Bones, quake,
With your brittle fear.
Muscles, pulse,
Let your breaking points draw near.
Vessels, burst,
Pressure too great.
Joints, seize,
Disconnect from fate.
Lungs, collapse,
Breaths shallow and stale.
Skin, strain,
And stretch until pale.
No meaning is held by light
Beyond shadows, sequence or shallow form
No release may grace the night

And screams my mind for sight
As limbs for rest in brutal storm
No meaning is held by light

As time drips too slow to fight
My eyes from life to numbness torn
No release may grace the night

Blind, I stumble from love into spite
And flail through wire and thorn
No meaning is held by light

But though my life is finite
I will not let them mourn
No release may grace the night

Is there any greater art but to write?
In darker times ink kept me warm
No meaning is held by light
No release may grace the night
Freedom is only as good as the people you share it with
Distract, destroy, disturb the angels sleeping
Rough, reborn, restored the heaven's weeping
Hated, hurting,
Kingdom burning, turning
Back behind my back.

Unhinge, untie, undo the laws you're bound by
Rusted rules return until the dark dies,
Punished, paining,
Hell is reigning, straining
Hands around my neck.
Contract, control, constrict the air is freezing
Deter, dement, deny my lungs from breathing
Fragile, freaking,
Phantom feeling, stealing
Souls from carcasses.

Shadows stalk a pilgrim
Through the dark I can't see
Their screams are invisible
My ears still bleed
Claws in my spine
Nails in my eyes
Dark is liberty
Catching currents in the dark,
My vision focused only on that eye,
Within, I see she knows.

Her wings barely move,
Yet constantly I turn,
Which way?
The direction seems so meaningless,
Yet I see she knows.

So why?
Where does she take me?
How far and for what purpose?
So many questions:
As constant as the air rushing past my face,
But still no answers,
None but the pull of that eye,
Through which, she knows.
She knows how to ask and get,
But I love giving.
She knows when I need to forget
The hell I'm living.
She knows where to go
To escape it all
She knows how to know
When I'm about to fall.
She knows how to share her pain,
So I can share mine.
She knows how to love the rain,
But stay inside.
She knows when all I need,
Is a meal and a break.
And she knows how I feel,
But that's okay.
For K (again)
There's a spear in my head,
Where I know I should have bled,
Had I collapsed and hit the kitchen counter top.

There's a splinter in my eye,
Where I know I should have cried,
With the pain that crushed me had I not stopped.

There's a stinging on my wrist,
Where the blade should not have missed,
Had it not been for my best friends pleas.

There's a necklace on my neck,
Where I should have killed a wreck,
Had it not been for the one who made me freeze.

I should have died,
But I did not,
So I better make it worth it.
There are people running,
Chaos,
I don't know where I am,
I'm late, I think,
Time is short,
I have to hurry up!

"Just stop."





"No, stay still."





"Why?"





"No reason."





"No, don't move."





"Keep dead still."





"Hear that?"





"Feel it?"





"There's a whisper on the breeze."





"No, shush."





"Don't speak."





"Just listen."





"It's not silent."





"Is it?"





"There's something there."





"Can you hear what it's saying?"





"No?"





"Don't worry."





"Neither can I."





"But."





"I don't ignore it."






"You."





"Are."





"Not."






"Alone."
Determined,
But far too weak to keep eyes,
Fixed on what they need,
To see to keep,
Working,
And instead,
My body lets down my mind,
And shuts
Down.
A stutter as the shutter closes
And seals away the past
Words taken and shaken around
And stuck in mind to last
In that second I reckoned I could
Speak and still be heard
But a stutter as the shutter closed
Cut off -
Tears build up,
The walls grow higher,
A fortress sprawls,
Unassailable,
The rocks that formed its perimeter,
Choke my heart,
As they build higher,
Under no law from me,
No command,
They keep building,
And still I don't know why,
But I fight.

I bombard the construction,
Siege engines roll through my arteries,
Cracks appear,
But I feel no better,
I keep fighting,
Until those impenetrable walls
Fall,
And the tears have nowhere to go,
But to surge to the surface,
And I begin to cry,
And I still don't know why.
Relief
Release
Content
Happy
Safe
Relaxed
Free
Accepting
Frustrat­ed


Final
Broken context,
Separation of thoughts,
Lost meaning,
Cut-off,
Always at the most important moment,
When a sharp response is vital,
Or when urgency is needed,
Or when you are desperate,
In the darkest moments of untold fear,
Never in the time of peace,
Or when you want to be alone,
Only when friends need to lean on each other,
When support is required,
From the other side,
Of a tear-streaked touch screen,
That is the time,
When the signal decides,
It has had enough,
And gives up.
On my arms rest the signs,
The sting of past events,
Bitter blood and a shattered soul,
Sung my hushed lament.

In my eyes dwells the dark,
The lifeless, cold contempt,
Hopeless heart, falling face,
Reflected - I resent.

In my heart flow the tears,
The self-hating rips straight through,
Paling pulse, frantic fingers,
I am torn in two.
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