are the trees
are the ocean
is the dirt
under your nails
is the rain
bursting thunder
in the clouds
are the light
is the wind
that turns heads
are old tales
of changed time
is the villain
is the saviour
in all of us

Forever, you said
Under a shooting star
Come what may
Know this is ours
Your claim, well laid
Once upon a time
Under a shooting star

less travelled
well worn

all roads lead home

words are words are words
whether they uplift or curse

talk to me with your hips
breathe the smoke from my lips

lie to me

the way I like it
tell me how tonight
it's only me

and this red light
brings out your eyes

let loose the demons
that hide in your hair
I won't care

you're so ugly
when you're honest

tell me lies
let your tongue
bleed terze rime

**** me in
to your sacred dark
and force me
to eat you

while you look
at what I made you do

I talk to the pines. I sit
under their boughs of perpetuity,
rest my head against a security of
surety I can't quite grasp.
I tell them I am lost, that the search
has been costly. I tell them
I am the red squirrel
who lost one too many nuts.
I tell them the axeman has no love
for the taxman, though both
have been cut loose. I tell them
nosotros fuimos hechos
para más que esto. I tell them
there are things I've done
that not even the clearest sky
could observe, that pride is the fall
of the haughty man
and what comes after isn't worth a mention. I tell them
Old Man Wibble may have been
a drunken fool but at least he knew
what he was doing. I tell them
my attention has leisurely slipped
into a dimension quite immeasurable.
They wave their boughs
like wings in the wind. I tell them
this song could never be wrong
for the music is our own.

In the mirror lies
an unidentified twin,
eyeing dark lines
in light of the past.

Entwined in the finite
shedding of skin,
a reticent shadow
with shackles to cast.

As black and hollow
as ink over glass,
a lingering flame
slowly flickers and dies.

Shattering twilight
reveals at the last,
a birth to dust
from which we rise.

My outrages grow
Through summer and spring
Pretty petals of yellow and pink
I tend to them in daily fashion
Growing them lofty is my passion

My incense, made of citrus and pine
Will leave you witless
Smelling divine
Displayed on a flimsy shelf I made
At just the right height
To hold your eyesight

My offendeds
Are of the finest genus
I won't pretend they're original
Seeing as the variations are thousands
And seedless
But just between us
It's easy to keep up
Spreading stones through the glass
Like a **** does

tried to make the jump from complainer to poet
but all I can seem to do is complain
I'll give you one guess where this thing is going
it's quite the frustration, let me explain

Upon drinking the whiskey and smoking the ****
all I got was drunk and addicted
I've spanked the frisky and choked the slags
all it left me was feeling conflicted

I've ripped through the prompts, copied the greats
I've read all the books and done all the time
I must have lost a ton of weight
from the sweat I've poured in a thousand lines

so now I just sit here, too thin and smelly
maybe I'll take up berating the telly

I want the intimacy
the bird has
with the duty-bound bee
dining on their innards
in the red oak tree

To stand tall
as the proud branch
the squirrel calls its home
welcomed in red-carpet-leaves
stripping bark to bone

I want the bite
of the patient snake
to shed the weary skin I've fashioned
to lie awake on sleepy hill
no chance of dinner passing

in view of the kitchen window at night
ruffled voiles billow softly inside
I want to know the voice
that raises living light
behind closed doors

to be the warm comfort
a cup of tea pours

always down
as if he fell from the sky
the tragic clown with the funniest life
the perfect comedy in time

he always frowns, I tell no lie
sticks silver needles in his eye

looking on the bright side
every cloud's a lining

all he ever wanted
was the planets to align
across the vast expanse of time
he spent wishing for a diamond

eyes on the sky when
groundwork's how to find them

could have been mining
instead he was whining
sour grapes are to his taste
he's always fine dining

and when it's finally his time
I believe his final sigh
will be released
with sweet relief
at not needing to try

I like a haiku
it doesn't need a title
it speaks for itself

I like a haiku
because it's simple to do
and not meant to rhyme!

I like a haiku
breaking rules from time to time
it's all part of life

I like a haiku
its complexities outshine
the simplicity

I like a haiku
it's always just the right thing
with just the right words

I like a haiku
it's a form like no other
beautiful and pure

I like a haiku
and I know you know it's true
but I like you more

the butterfly
flitting vivid in the garden
kissing the prettiest flowers
with abandon

and the watchful eyes
waiting on high
to gobble it up at random

the slinky tail
prowling the grass
dancing with light
between shadows it cast

steps with intention
alive in the night
not a single tomorrow in sight

she likes sausage for breakfast
but we don't cook the eggs
then it's on to the next one as she's checking her texts
she's vegetarian and always late
from a generation that just couldn't wait
to not be sober and now they're older;
a body count that could outrank soldiers
storming the frontlines, nobody told her
be still for a minute and let someone hold her
so it's on to the exodus, on to the next one
never sticking around like Teflon
if you've a big one, you might share a shower
but best believe she'll be dust in an hour

I don't sleep
I levitate over the street
I'll dog walk Bo Peep before I talk sheep
I'm offbeat

I could dip a toe in your tea
and have you sip it thinking sugar never tasted this sweet
I'm low key

but only goin as low as a C
'cause it's some sight to see when you mess with the B
that's not me

Just give me some THC
maybe an e if I'm feeling upbeat
LSD
so I still don't sleep
I procrastinate for half a week
making gaping holes in sheets
having affairs with pharaohs and jeez -
where did he ever find they hos?
please

Them hos, excuse me
grammar's not what it used to be
before we were locked in our homes
by abusey wankers for profit
not ours, come off it
to build bankers coffers over some coughing

I'll take the coffin over the fear
open sarcophagus(es)
like some cheery old boffin on Hatshepsut -
and she's oot, how weird
I could've sworn she was left right here

Seems she was out all along
wrapped us up like a song
but don't get it wrong
this one's not finished
you made it this far already
stick with it

There isn't a limit conceived in time
that wasn't upheaved by an adamant mind
don't put faith in imagined lines
you
cosmic blizzard
ride the Pacific
wave with the light like some diamond wizard

Enlighten the night with your hieroglyphics
wield your worth
its lot
intrinsic
to the world and all that's in it
make today your favourite lyric
and sing it

knew I should have lied
when she looked me in the eyes
and asked, "who's it about?"
I could have made her doubt
now everything is different
and everything's a mess
I should have been indifferent
like primary school tests
but I just had to tell her
and now she screams and shouts
about the man who sold the world
over a couple of pounds.

come, look
see painted walls

see crime
see heart
see the last light fall
on abandoned halls

hear the running still
of a silvery river
through slivers
of a stricken city

time rushed away

run your fingers
up the rusted rails
flanking gate and chain
and with the same disdain
they show you

climb steady

taste the silt
stand
with wilted pillars
drunk on verdant shores

breathe a new sound
feel the stifled air
of a cloudless night
languish in your lungs

come, look
fresh walls to paint

my battery would be quite low
incessantly in need of charge
we'd go wherever you go

my software would be so secure
a little out of date
the oldies are the goodiest
I think that's what they say

your face would be the only thing
to ever light my screen
the pictures we could take together
places we'd be seen

selfies in the bathroom
selfies on the beach
holding me at arms length
always within reach

you'd tell me your favourite things
and all your darkest secrets
I'd give you a couple rings
if you would only keep them