What if I miss
A list
Flurries in the wind
Jumping out of hand

Lucky-opportunist
Grating against the limits
Beyond the town
Falling out of pace

Tip Tap Tip Tap Tip Tap Buzz Buzz Ring
Dancing light filters through the balcony
Drifting through the choppy air twirling
Another leaf drops onto the concrete
Brought by the feather of a small bird
Chirp Chirp Chirp follows a telegram’s
Stringing words racing to the finish line
To grow beside you nurturing the mind
Then your stomach by a thousand leaves
Eat the love you poured into the ground
Watching it blossom into a giver of life
Now returned is your efforts multi-fold

I guess I just miss you.
Never once did I actually
Think that I’d have to get used to
Not seeing your face daily;
Not being able to talk about
Whatever I needed out of my system; they say
That girls take too
Many pictures but obviously it isn’t true
Because there’s not a day
That passes without me
Wishing I’d taken more of you.
I’d do anything to be
Teleported back in time, into
Your arms. And even though
The height difference between us was so
Large, you were always the one
That had the bigger piece of my heart.
I hate us having to be apart.
I bet you’re tall now. It’s been
Far too
Long since I’ve last seen
You.

He drives dreaming,
     smoke writhing between
              gashed fingers keeps the
                                         wheel turning.
                                                  Sometimes,
                                an irresistible light
                     flares its hungry glare
           blinding the only eye
he can see with.
Sometimes,
     he's headlessly drifting,  
               and fears what's sprawled
                                 on the kerb might've
                                                        been him
                                    and when it isn't,
                              he pays a toll
       bound for the high way
black as a solstice night
     riding serpentine
          until he's no longer
                     prey to the break
                                              of day.

I walk toward the door
Lights getting brighter by the second

'i was hoping youd stay'

I
Hesitate.

only for a moment.

and then i am gone.

when i think about that day, i wish i had stayed
closer
to
you.

i wish i had hugged you tighter...

i wish i had said more than 'goodbye'


i wish



we





hadnt



grown














distant.

-Liam

You know I love you
You must know all the things I do,
Big things, small things,
Despite your worry, I will not go.
But sometimes you annoy me,
With lots of small things,
Is it your way to avoid me?
Or do you miss the pain it brings?
Toilet seats, left up all the time,
Open ******* boxes all over the pantry,
Crumbs on the floor and ants in a line,
Towels stuck in the microwave; I'm angry!
Why can't you do these simple things?
It's not a lot to ask.
Don't get me started on your room:
Clothes and junk are just too much,
And in the other one, A Temple of Doom,
Your record collection sits untouched.
Downstairs, there’s a pile of tools,
filling up the dining room,
It'd be great if you used these "jewels";
You're so attached they should be in the bedroom!
They're just lots of small things,
Why won't you clean them up?
To me they're irritating things,
And they just keep piling up.
All the small things
Sitting here for twenty years.
Are they the talismans
Against your fears?
You used to bring me flowers
To show me that you cared.
Now you shop online for hours;
I sometimes forget you’re there.
When you ignore the small things,
I’ll dig them out of a pile
And see what money they bring;
You won’t notice after a while.
Maybe in twenty years more
I’ll have all these things
Whittled down and cleared
And we could be each other’s things
Once more.

Sharon Talbot - 2010-2024