'L' trains trundle
Over rickety rails -
Menacing monsters
Terrorising the
City's streets

Highways heave through
The heart of the city -
Drop any plans to ponder
On the platforms
Positioned between its lanes

Cars make meals of
Metal bridges,
Blasting music over
Meandering motorbikes

Peace in city parks
Proves fleeting -
Screech of the cicadas
Periodically piercing
Precious silence

Head hits pillow,
Hubbub fades
But how long before
Sirens wail once again?

The sun reaches in to kiss my skin
When I lean out to greet it

Limbs press in all directions
Saving me from falling

The trees whisper amongst themselves
Painting their shadows on roofs below

I pull the air over my shoulders
Dissolving into the afternoon

I arrived anonymous,
Mother's tongue raising no eyebrows in this town of travellers.

Settling together in our disparate roles,
We gingerly trade skills and share tales.

Our alien conventions lack legitimacy here,
A tender fog cushioning idiosyncrasies.

In hometowns,
Once-tranquil homes become restless.

But in this enclave,
Foreigners feather new nests.

...Until Basel is where we belong.

When life is your lover,
There can be no other.

We're good consumers,
Until tomorrow's social standards
Deem today's behaviour immoral.

We are criminals in waiting,
Until tomorrow
Justifies today's crime.

Are we prisoners,
Now and forever?

Two butterflies fluttered, at first, alone
Though soon to be together blown
Into a single stream of wind
Theirs, to rise and tumble in

Life tosses a conciliatory bone,
A string of tiny texts form a story,
Written in pages interwoven across the day.

But I'm still trapped in mid-week,
Looking forward through Wednesday's bars,
To a weekend's promised freedom.

I claim the night as my own,
But am cheated by the dawn,
Alone at the end of the rave.

With my summer spent,
And winter yet to be earned,
I finish my colourless breakfast solemnly.

My detoxification becomes a hollowing of the soul,
An empty vessel left listlessly on the sea,
Floating in an ocean of conspiracy.

Absorbed by the dreary remains
Of a web of circumstance,
You fumbled in the dark for a door,
An exit strategy.

Whether "can't" or "won't", it's clear you don't understand these tears -
Well, each tells a story of its own:
This one's for best, but never enough -
That one's for brightest, but never on show.

It's a sorry series of unfortunate events,
A spidery path of ups and downs.
Reflective to sensitive others,
They remain opaque to you.

Then the world collaborates,
Confers and corroborates.
The domino network forms a chain,
A bridge to distant decisions.

So long a life donated to the service of man,
Thinking the weight of the world
Rests on two shoulders.
Now, finally. A man. Donated to life.

Approaching a clearing in the mind,
Open and vulnerable to the elements
Alone and free, experimentation is a natural path

Burdens lift from shoulders, floating overhead
Paper crumpled in the hands of divinity
Blown away on the whispered promises of better things to come

Sanctity swells around the feet like a fog
Wandering through fallen leaves, memories discarded with no value
Rustles roll to thunderous applause

Eyes open, head tilts to the heavens
View unadulterated, comprehension unhindered
Empty sky, so simple now

Peace sinks heavy through constricted nerves,
An old home, vacant for so long
Senses overwhelmed, must pause for reflection

Past plugged into socket stars,
Space seems less distant now,
A dashboard of cause and effect

Eyes adjust, nature's palette returns again,
Forest thickens, clearing closing in
Experience a buried fossil, waiting rediscovery

Reading her novel
On trains, morning and night -
Fictional parentheses
Bookend-ing the story of my day

What a wonder,
Lost in the hills
Trudging and slipping
Through mud and snow.

Ninety minutes,
A dozen dogs,
One and a half 'caches,
A single candid horse.

Racing to beat the sun,
I find a sack and a tub.
I'm happier than mother, though -
Left with a rather muddy rug.

While you were sleeping,
Lazy eyes wandered across
Mountains and valleys -
Your genetic topography

Some days,
I crave
Some time
With yours
On mine

My winged companion guides through my clouds,
No fear of flying in such familiar arms

Standing tall at the summit,
The world lies unimportant at our feet

Egos nourish our cocoon,
And together we grow

'Till my lover breaks free,
Newfound beauty exhilarating

Alas, I remain grounded,
Wings yet to unfurl

Feeble hands reach out,
To a warmth no longer near

Daylight fading, I find myself alone in darkness,
Threatened by every alien sound

Heavy footsteps grow closer,
Starved heart is racing, solo battle a long lost art

Then childish eyes adjust -    
Though strangers, they pose no threat

Watching from afar, I follow their dancing,
My lover haunting every song

Hours pass, day breaks, sun rises,
The festival fades

Mouth dry, and thirsty for intimacy,
I dare advance upon the party

Begging for water or wine,
'Til One is obliged

Holding high a heavy chalice,
Her poison purges my soul

Dulled senses sharpen once more,
My own colours now so visible

The music swells again,
And we dance to the sound of a different tune

A nap,
Planned,
But not taken

What better way
To while the time,
Than with our arms
Thus intertwined

**** you, virus; all dripping nose, spluttering cough, nasty rash and sensitive nerves. **** you lack of sleep, eyelids drooping. **** you forgotten helmets and punctured tyres. **** you bitter cold night, and neverending space and time. **** you Canary Wharf, with your windy streets and unfriendly rules. **** you to missed signs, leading to wasted miles and wrong turns. And **** you London roads - every lump, **** and bump.

But thanks to caring friends, generous donators and 4,000 fellow do-gooders. Thanks to a bike that is well oiled and shifting smoothly. Thanks to free cycle surgeries, to 'Spicy Bikers' crisps, and an early dawn. Thanks to stunning landscapes and landmark buildings. Thanks to high-fives and whoops from strangers. And thanks especially to Luke, with his hot thermos of coffee at 4.30am.

Another 25km still to go...

12 pages turned; back at that seminal day.
I close this shiny jamjar, capturing unresolved issues in the air.

Step outside of yourself.
Step outside of your routines, your safe circle of friends.
Step outside of your memories, beliefs and prejudices.

Awaken to a fresh perspective on the world,
A more visceral sense of its ebb and flow,
A new view of its entangled web.

Where are you? Who are you?
Examine your life as art, judge as for a crime.
And into your verdict pierce a pivot,
Auspicating a diasporal pilgrimage
Towards the re-introduction of fortune,
Spontaneity, serendipity and surprise.

Rebel against Lady Luck’s long-laid path,
Sedate her inexorable chain reactions
And embark instead upon personal ventures.
Live a life where every moment is
More than just a precursor for the next.

And in crushing your expectations,
Welcome the unexpected.

Bring more toys for Christmas Day
Bring them here from far away
Distill the oil, then melt and mould
We’ll play today, but never grow old

Injustice fuels accelerating regret.
Inertia proves no barrier to escape speed
Breaking away from the gravity of goodbye
Into the comfort of an infinite past.

In early evening darkness, an endless entourage of engines sails streets exactly as Doppler predicted.

His trolley case traverses cracked concrete until her heels slow, halting to heed a busker's beat.

Polite soles approach the pair, sidestepping into loose layers of leaves - compacting gold and brown with a crunch.

Well-travelled tongues whisper foreign fears and wishes in a fog of white noise, fading to null as four eyes silently share three special words.

The shock of the old
Cause and effect

Encounter the art of stillness,
Trust exercise

Another world is possible -
You must see before you die

Everyday legends,
A job to love,
Architecture to make you smile,
The restaurant at the end of the universe

Crusading through veins like a chariot
Crescendo due, but wave fails to topple
'Till finally
Exploding heart leaves a lasting impression in the sky

Orbital beat progresses to white noise
Strata indistinguishable yet so familiar
Pause
Tunnel ends, precipitation returns

Old words, new meaning
Touched by context, light and shadow realign
Mood fitting
A gesture to ever-changing thoughts

Destination altered, switch rail
Distinct terrain yet of the same earth
Openly private
Comedy or tragedy, opinion divides

Aches unsoothed, request repeat prescription
Anticipation climbs, summit in sight
Air thins
Could this be the end?

O' what joy
To complete a task
In one glorious fell swoop
Without follow-up call,
Repeat visit,
Or returns label

God and the devil shake hands
Powerful opponents in a deserted arena
Yet secretly slaves to their master

Consequences clash - battle has begun
Ares wounded, Lucifer laughs

War rages across blurred boundaries
Compass spins, destination obscured

Sands filter through, time so conceptual
Eternal struggle, victory increasingly rare

Then, fresh perspective, weapon sharpened
Stance set, shield drawn closer
Eyes squint, target aligns

Skin pierced, drive deeper
Final twist, enemy to vapour...
Desire silently mourns his defeat

We arrived brave and bold, art and science at our backs -
A rigid grid of perception to transpose upon all we would see before us.

Expectation of the unexpected,
Of normality with new norms.

Alas, close or foreign, observing or feeling,
Pain is one and the same.

Navigating slow waters muddied by social pollution,
Our lanterns cast a feeble light through the detritus.

Then, as the stream presented the sea, black and thick as a Venus night,
A dart of colour transcended from the voluminous burden.

Do the waters behind represent those ahead,
Or should we portend this tiny creature an omen?

While our thoughtfully-placed chips may win when the coloured wheel slows,
The ball spins on, absent of profound meaning or motivation.

We save the world just for drama's sake,
As even the Joneses gasp for breath to keep up.

Through dusty glass, from the comfort of couches,
Where scholars would once have taught, we claim to learn.

Following signs in the night I never would in the day,
I find the conclusion - the only candid love is that of this moment.

Fixated on the clockwise wobble of a fan overhead, I laugh with solace -
Newly aware that our most intimate of moments,
Seemingly so personal between two individual minds,
Are merely echoes from the shackles of biology and society.

12 pages turned since that seminal moment,
I close this sunlit jamjar, arresting unresolved issues from the air.
In ****** battle for a monopoly on knowledge, the message filtered through,
That understanding is worthless without doing and being.

And what have we done with our time on earth?
Too much and not enough.

Frayed edges present soft fibres
Wicks in waiting
Until a trickle reaches out
To meet them

A single entwined mass
Swims in moonlit aquamarine
Anchored against torid tides

With tipsy eyes turned towards alternate shores,
Tongues wag tales to while away time

Two mariners pre-mourning the moment
When water forces empty space
Between their tangled fleet

She's eyes to
Make poetry with

Brutality and barbarism

Broken bodies,
Brittle hearts,
Bruised egos

Bitterness breeds

Brazen boots
Build borders,
Beat drums

*******

If I was asked to
Fold my life in two,
I'd place the crease
Where I discovered Tool

A gift for the host, my permission to land -
Champagne for sunrise, as could only have been planned.

The all-night lock-in; whispering late, the breakfast date.
Just smalltown lust, but why give it up for drama’s sake?

Months from now, all will be said and done,
Fresh appetite earned, from ballads tearily sung.

And I’ll search white noise again for something special,
Until passing faces burst into beautiful blooms...

No matter how improbable.