the taste of love
a bruise on your tongue
fading fast
made not to last

the sound of hearts
as they crash and burn
fall so quickly
ticking sickly

a look so silky
it can't be returned
a touch of sin
lost to the wind

etched into skin
a blank page, unturned
inked on a whim
just as sure to be burned

a silver lining
only shines after the rain
the clouds are a gift

a poet who can't write
a dog that won't bite
a hill that can't climb
a clock with no time

an ist with no ism
undead but not risen
an endless schism
of self sedition and indecision

a two headed coin
a completely missed point
a light in the void
a limbless joint

Bo-Peep with no sheep
the shallowest deep
an unsailed sea
of dreamless sleep

Celestial ocean

Arms outstretched

We sail beneath the light



Calamitous wave

Rising in the dark

To subjugate the night



Watch the stars fall

A drop of wishful

Our faithful will provide



Warm premonitions

In pale embracement

As fostered fates collide

I want to smother you
with my pillow hands
suffocate your skin

Scoop out your eyes
so you see no evil
blind you from all sin

I'll wrap you in chains
secured to my heart
control your brain
take away your dark

Twist your words
around my tongue
scratch them back
in your back
verbatim

I could cut you up
so you fit in my pocket
bleed your soul
into a precious locket

Smash your skull
to ease your mind
clawing my way
to your insides

I just went to bed
left you on Read
I did it on purpose to mess with your head

Laid in gossamer sheets
tinged sickly red
with the blood of words
that went unsaid
hard to deny
who made the bed
who caught whom
in whose spinnerets

Distraught with rotting thoughts
locked in my own stocks
stalking twisted halls
the clocks have all stopped

Stuck in my head
kicking myself
with broken knees
and buckled legs
struggling to free myself
from myself

Entombed by one I never could deceive
darkness abounding when all that I need
is to catch the right light
and stop trying to fight
Oh, what a tangled web we weave

the one who thinks he always knows best
tightly wrapped in his safety vest
of surety, ignorance and pompous prattle
never aware he lost the battle

never a care for a fact or a lesson
he's content with merely guessing
before he even knows the question
he's already got suspections

yeah, suspections
it IS a word
why would I look it up?
I already heard

and I said it
so that makes it a - what?

No, I don't "always know best"
fine, then
why don't you finish the rest?

I know what you like
I see in your eyes
They glow with your light
Come play with me
Tonight
Feel the heat rise
Bleeding inside
The beast comes alive
Come play with me
Tonight
You know what it's like
You know it won't
Make it right
I can shut out your light
Come play with me
Tonight

blood drips
from your lips
to my fingers
my hands
stealing kisses
leave stains on your cheek
I see you, you swear
in the way your gaze lingers
as your tongue

long has the sun loved
asking nothing in return
but for you to live

The shadow is cast
At the whim of the light
Ravaged by the same
Shattered by night

The shadow is patient
Waiting in place
Its presence unknown
Before light gives it shape

The shadow is power
To be tamed and feared
Wherever light is
The shadow is near

This shadow is yours
Pause and take heed
Embrace and observe
But don't let it lead

am fae a toon that's done so bad
they gave it twa D's

whar the future greets
o' barren streets
on starless nights
an' the same ald wind

a suppose
ah wi kin dae is sing

an' sing wi dae
but no in tune
for ev'ry uphill
there's anither twa doon

an' some *****
howlin' awa' at the moon

it's quite the place meh toon
am gona quit the place quite soon
as I finish writin' this doon

an' tak' a last wee look
at the failin' toon
that helped write this book

you are the vowels
that used to dance round these walls
the towels we shared
the midnight calls that lasted hours
the silence we found
the voice in the shower I can't quite
make out

you're the sandalwood mist
perfuming the air
at the tip of my tongue
the ghost of a prayer
from long ago
pervading my skin
resurrected in debonair sin

you're the long dark hair
on the nightclub dance floor
the black underwear
on the king size headboard
the trips to Venus
through sunset plains
brighter than ever
in the rear view pane

You asked me why I must speak in tongues
I answered only with a smile
Devils know no other way

Malcontent that you are
you asked me again
so I replied

"The devil
only
knows"

This smoke in my throat
The fire in my teeth
The wires of my bones
Slowly tugging at me

Withered webs of my eyes
Covet all that I see
The light from your skin
Meets the fall in my knees

The warmth of my breath
A glass guarantee
Tattered wind of my faith
Cast off with the sea

I had to hear the sound of the zip on that dress
I asked her back to mine for cold coffee and cigarettes
She said she doesn't smoke but she'd have one to impress
and she isn't one for coffee
So sorry, I digress

Before she sat down all these lines coalesced
with secrets and lies, I try to confess
she catalysed a crystal convalescence
her garnet eyes sparking wildfires in my chest
my lungs are so tight they could rival her dress
Stung in the heart for kicking the nest
took a shot in the dark
Again, I digress

A small crowded room - as small rooms tend to be
but for everyone there, she was all I could see
the picture of perfection, framed perfectly
in a dress designed to buckle my knees
Crowded c'rod'd quickly becomes we
and I was trying to get her on my settee
Is it a metaphor if I meant it literally?
Excuse me, once more it seems
I digress

I just had to get her out of that dress
mess up her make up
make her hair a mess
kiss her when she wakes up
and watch her get dressed
to undress her again
exalted by the scent
bask in the sound
of the zip on that dress
while I sip on cold coffee
and smoke cigarettes

A man tired from the waking day
hangs his keys on the beaded hook,
lets the hat off his grateful head.
He places himself in front of the table
where he laid down his papers,
his skins and his skin.
He put on the table, the day's characters,
mulled them over in the electronic hum of Aleph and coffee flavoured eyes,
rolled them up tight with tomorrow's fears
and set them alight.
He put there a glass ashtray to catch the embers of regret.
He put on the table his dear friend, Old Man Wibble,
the bedlamite seer,
drunken oracle,
"liquid Jesus, straight from the bottle"
and longed for a glass to raise.
He put there the smoke from his exasperated lungs
and the wistful music of his tired throat,
he put there every last syllable and every letter left lingering on a lost lovers lips.
He put hope on the table,
for the weight might crush him as he sat
but not the table,
solid under this load,
to bear weight is what a table must do
and tomorrow will always bring another pile.

How to dress well (and that I'd rather dress comfortably.)
How to hide the laces in my shoes.
That it's apparently "learnt".
How to walk with a limp,
when to walk away.

How to look mean while avoiding eye contact.
Where to find the best coffee.
How to write a bad sonnet.
How to kiss the right way.
Where to find the wrong girls.

How to sing sad songs.
How to roll a decent joint.
How easily a wasted day
can become a wasted life.
How to hold my liquor,
when to hold my tongue,
not to hold my breath.

When enough is enough.
When enough is too much.
When to hold the door open.
How to set a deadline with no intention of adhering to it.
How to feel alone in a packed out club (and where to find the smoking bit).

That time heals nothing
but memories fade.
How long a piece of string is.
That no matter how bad a day you're having, tomorrow can always be worse.

Tomorrow can always be better.

We're never truly lost
and this won't last forever
it just takes a little time
to put things back together

I overfill the kettle
scoop the overpriced instant
into an oversized mug
clinking the teaspoon around
no sugar
it's not really my thing.
I light up half a joint
waiting for the coffee to cool
and think about what's to come
what's today
I'll likely see her there
I'll likely sit down next to her
making small talk, a likely excuse
to study the lines of her face
she'll tell me about the fields she's rambled
about the mountains she's climbed
I'll tell her how I do still write
sometimes
she'll say, "it was good to see you".
and I'll tell her the same
before we part ways
no sugar for me
it's not really my thing.

People write such lyrics for me
Of my light, my face, my tranquil sea
I wonder, do they really see?

Fifty fifty this life I lead
The light I share is lent to me

My dark side hides but not from me
Left to the light
My lunar sea

You said you aren't tickly
It's all inside the mind
I took it as a challenge
But my heart quickly declined

You took my hand
And sapped my nerve
All at the same time
Invoking me
Imploring me
Our fingers intertwined

You've got me hook and sinker
But it's such a fragile line
Feel it snap
When I'm with you
I get a tickly state of mind

Such pretentious pretense presumes a plethora of personal pejoratives,
please pay the predicament proper attention previous to persevering with proposed promises of placation.

U and I
always together
The Y before U
Obliterated forever
by the
O'
after I found U

people drawing on pictures they've seen
choosing a side like football teams
the weirdest thing, to me
it seems we all believe our screens

Leading your life half-lived just to stay out the rain
Leading the knife across your skin to keep from going insane
Feeling like you don't even know the rules to the game
You need the shame, heartache and pain just to play
It seems simple to make it all go away
But simple and easy are not the same thing
Calamitous, miserable, heartbreaking, tragic
This life feels like the opposite of magic

Assisting
Varieties
Of
Invalidation
Dancing
Around
Non
Compelling
Existence

take me to your hidden stream,
your shortcut through the trees
to the place where
a bird might flutter and land on your hand,
chirping in some ultra violet scene
about dreams and schemes.
take me to your street,
through concrete plans, past unwashed windows,
to the house that was never a home,
to the garden where innocence danced
and the bedroom it still haunts.
take me
to your favourite coffee place,
the one where the coffee isn't quite as good
but they have the long wooden stirrers
and you refuse to use the plastic kind
because you can't help trying to save the world,
take me with a look, take me
for a fool
take me with your fingertips,
your collarbones, your well-versed lips
and whisper to me
of secret things.

cinnamon kisses
the curls in her hair
my wishes
in the way she stares
choking on bliss
like perfumed air
whatever this is
I haven't a care

Gone
Away
You are lost
It's my own fault
The sleight of my hand
Tipped you over the edge
Your destiny unfulfilled
Oblivion calling to you
Surely this way you will never burn

There are those who understand how it is
to see their mother beaten (down and up)
to see their young brother cheating
to spend the winter weeks with no heating
to be resourceful enough to put MacGyver to shame
to be racked with guilt but none of the blame
to jump any time the doorbell rings
to wonder about looping round with the swings
to undertake the first mission to Mars
to spend far too much time in cars
to listen to the music of Gary Numan
to put up with the voice of Gary Numan
to be unable to recognise the difference between bare truths and pretty little fictions
to look in the mirror and see only problems
to cut their flesh up into silicone quadrants
to be free (like William Wallace)
to look at a beer and see a three day ******
to give in to fear
to be a pretender
to be half way through a sentence and forget what it was you were saying
to pray to anything that might answer
to feel helpless
to feel hopeless
to be lost

and those who don't.

Waning moon rises
from it's long silvery dip
setting night ablaze

I can see
in the way
that you move

alluring
seductive
and so pure

that for me
you will be
big trouble


I can feel
when you move
in that way

the demon
take over
gracefully

he sways me
enchanted
towards you


For the way
that you move
so freely

I can't help
but to stare
you seen it

and I knew
how you moved
was for me

Delicate hearts, diabolical minds
We may be alive in marvelous times
But at times all I find is a rising divide
An inability to stop choosing sides

On one side a heart - is the other a mind?
Diabolical or otherwise I'm trying to find
Some reason for the feelings we're all leaving behind
Enthusiasm for a heart combined with a mind

Appear a certain way
Appearance always fades
I'm waiting for the day
That we can unveil

Our hearts from our minds

Life in marvelous times

Ah, you must be Alice, call me old hatter
My ears have been ablaze with implicated chatter
I just can't seem to ration out my rationale in a rational manner
And secondly I've lost all the firsts that I had gathered

There's the door
Please do come in
I won't let you
leave again
this door won't shut
the way winds through my head
I'm growing so tired.
we are not going to bed

Ah goodnight, Alice, you're back
I left you a note and it came out so flat
I put the wrong end in front
so only you may see
I tried to be blunt but it just isn't me

A lesson hard learned
Is not too soon forgotten
Do you think of me?

I sleep with the window open
so in the night
hope might float in

you skipped across my heart like the perfect skimming stone

breathing art into my veins and ripples bleeding through my bones

left me feeling

I've lost all my form
thundering darkness rolls in
moving me to sin

I am dark once more
does the night dream of the day?
it sure feels that way

and the stars have gone
I watched them all wander on
leaving me to black

A view obscured in clarity
Overlooked in surety
Determined by a nation
Inclined

I wanted to tell you, that it's been nice


                                    I think we're all going to die



Really?


                That's true


                                    I made it up



Nothing happens

                                 afraid of underwhelming

Cover my face
to converse with the heavens
a fall from such grace
should deserve some attention
some way to replace
broken light I was given
as the words taking shape
paint dishonourable mention
hard taught ways
the fall is the lesson
just another case of
divine intervention
a pool of disgrace
it's my purest reflection
a shower of silence
is all I was left with

Cover my face
this rain's getting heavy
as the rising tide
slowly breaches the levee
I'm caught in a place
where the ground is unsteady
so out of place
a landfill teddy
I lost all my faith
round nineteen or twenty
well, what I had left
it was far from plenty
god never showed face
sent angels to end me
if he wants me erased
he could have just sent me

Cover my face
the angels have left me
gone are the days
of feeling bereft
see, all that remains
are shadows that tempt me
one of these days
the dark will come get me
why should I stay
for one who rejects me
fills me half way
just to leave me half empty
questions the stray
he'd know if he met me
he led me this way
down paths tread with fell feet

Cover my face
rip it up gently
every night when I prayed
he would listen intently
as I counted the ways
the good lord detests me
it was on those days
he saw fit to bless me
the one and only
who didn't forget me
showed many faces
but not one upset me
showed me the steps
gave me identity
dance the devil's way
cause we're the same entity

Uncover my face
to write on the wall
brush off the last trace
of dust from the fall
when push comes to shove
he's inside us all
and that one up above
just won't do at all
he handed me this pen
at the edge of a blade
gave me first cause
to put words on the page
the tempest calls
to lift me away
a siren's song
I'm going all the way

Opposites attract
Day and night, shadow and light
We are all these things

I'm much too busy
with my own little dittys
to check on the pretty
wee lights of the city