Northern roared in today;
Whipping winds whistle & moan.
Clouds tumble and roll
Like waves.
Feathers of Darkness &
Feathers of Light;
How blustery cold.
Winds whip the leaves
To freedom & they dance
And spin & spin & spin
In the air and streets.
Cats smile into the sky.
Old nests like husks
Made of dried leaves
Lay strewn like tiny coffins,
And the air is cold, dry and
Electrifying...
Rushing wind splashes my face,
Northern spray slaps smartly-
Stinging and reddening cheeks & eyes.
Summer heat doesn’t die quietly,
And cats smile into the sky.
Death crunches sweetly
Under rubber tires.

© Lesley Wood

https://soundcloud.com/lesleywood/jets-overhead-vs-lesley-wood-cotxetxe-mashup

Such dissatisfaction
For so little reason.
Much complaining & whining,
Crying & begging;
Pulling hair, tight fists
And gnashing teeth.
Consumer Zombies stagger
Into the Stop & Shop,
Shop & Go,
Buy More For Less-
Sale, Sale, Sale!
Salivating glands & bug eyes;
Our hands grab more than
Can possibly be seen.
Our skin stretches tight
As white elephants stampede.
Why can’t we all

Just Stop & think?
Take a drink of the cool morning
Air and buy in the sunrise?

*©  Lesley Wood

O'blessed Darkness cover me
Blanket the rushing words & flashing blurs;
The disjointed fragments of blinking walls,
Lights crashing off and on,
Blue, red, green-the marionettes dancing,
So many together and all alone.
It is all a show.

The hiccup of life, the vomiting dream.
I see my life before me;

A slush of goo,
The stink of this world,
Or is that the scallops & escargot?
What have you done to me?

Everything I do myself-
This dream, this life...
Why do I hurt myself so?

Punching mirrors, ***** on porcelain.
Dark, thick-
My throne for many minutes...

Time ticking, time ticking-
I was unaware.
My wooden box was silent,
My wooden life is tragic.

The voices through the walls,
Through the fog and haze-
You okay? You okay? You okay?

I croak a positive.
I have no steady legs-
When have I ever?
I have no:
stable brain
clear thought
decisive moment
steady action
fruitful journey-
All slipping through my fingers...
Like the vomitous goo of tonight.

Everything we have, we lose.
Owning anything is an illusion.
Holding on is meaningless.

I want to go home.

(Everything is nothing)

I want to go home

(there is no sense in anything)

i want to go home.

Please, hold me now.

*©Lesley Wood

A quiet alcove
Gentle ripples
Glintings of sunlight
The soft hush and whisper of a breeze
Think: ‘Still waters’
Drink it in
Quiet the chaos of your mind
Wash the dust of yesterday
From your hands
Plant the seed of love & trust
Forgive your sins
Gaze in deep deep
Dark tunnels
Wavering hues
Blue deepening
Still waters deep
Quiet the ripple beneath your skin
A cloud passes over the sun
The sky moves the water
The patterns change
The change begins in you, too
Grow your soul & spread your wings
Still Waters Deep

Our scars show the wars
Past tears & growth
Birth, trauma the healing over
The telltale signs
of living for better or worse
Reminders of pain, loss
Gain
What has been here &
now gone
Choices we made
Toxic spills
cleaning up
The calcification stone rub of our sentence & prison years
, Falling down
Falling up
the ****** **** gauzed over
Second skins

Words harming me and mine

bleeding on the inside

cuts tear scars sear
the burning of rhyme
chaos in mind
Faded welts from forgotten paths
but not forgotten for etched in flesh
Rivlets bumps holes
puckered scars
aberrations in our universe
The pink red welts
The wriggle worms

mind slashes time
our years our fears

Our scars & battles
Survive these days
our ways
past memories
ripping apart the darkness
Letting in the light
Green glow of heart
Glow of hope
The truest carefree smile
Full breath of life
No holding back relax

Our scars only signs
Our miracles of flesh and light
Revenants left behind
Momentos
Memories
Souveniers from the roads we traveled

I wish to store my scars Away in jars
I don’t mind the reminders

but please no remembering today.

I am the cheese
Swiss cheese
Standing alone
Riddled with holes
Riddled in life
In mind
This cheese stands alone
There is a hole
Not diminishing
Not healing
Still ragged and raw
Still bleeding
Your name on it
Label maker
Stick-on
Cut out
Super glued on
Oh Super you
Not healing
The start is in the forgetting?
Or perhaps, different ways of remembering?
Release all pain
This is the trick I fail at
If no gain, then pain
Something I am good at
I pick at the wound and make wider
I peel off scabs again and again
The red bright in my grey grey mind
The red a bright dot tattoo
Memento
These moments though
There is a perfect catch
Perfect chance
Perfect dance
I fail at catching the rhythm
Stumble & fall
Hole soufflé
Cold duvet
A hole by any other name…
I fail to catch the rhythm
(Not complimentary
But clashes of personality)
The dance, the chance
So much is lost on me
But You…
I fall through
The hole wider now than before
Oh Alice, be careful what you wish for
You riddled through
Riddle you
Standing alone
You failed to catch the rhythm
The chance, the dance
So much is lost on you
Riddled with holes
Riddled in life
Standing alone.



.......................................................­..........................................
Acknowledgements:
‘The Farmer in the Dell’ nursery rhyme (1820, GE)
‘I am the Cheese’ YA novel by Robert Cormier (1977)
All rights reserved.

Loving the Alien
The ghost
The unseen, undream
The fiction & the lie
Tears with why
No understanding
Confusion
Why can’t loved ones
Be in my life?
Is it pride, anger, guilt
Or shame?
There is a white warm glow in my heart
Love doesn’t die
Love remains
Anxious
Lost
Caught in the winds
Between two worlds
There is deep space multiverse
Metaverse
Black holes, whoa
Reverse
There is mind.
There is MIND.
Mine keeping me up late at night.
No sparkle unicorn or singing dolphin
There is static, crackle , chaos & crumble
Machine crunching
Sticky bits in teeth
Overwhelming noise
Whirlwind tornado
No one to hear but me
Crunching teeth
Loving the green glow
Radioactive tunnel
The depth is shocking
The cruelty astounding
But nothing tortures me
Like thoughts of you
Nothing true
Only fiction and lie
Fanciful disguise
You and I
So fake so frightened
So ******* what
Too cool for school
Too cool for each other
Lost in space
Lost to each other
Alien madness
Alien dream
Give up, let go
Come back to me
Drift slowly, languidly
Carefully
There is no pain in my arms
Only peace
There is a white warm glow in my heart
Love doesn’t die
Love remains.
There is no pain

It's Not the End of the World (Believe)

ITS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD
STOP YOUR CRYING
BELIEVE YOU CAN BE BETTER
JUST BELIEVE
JUST BREATHE
BEGIN AT THE MIRROR
LOOK INTO YOUR EYES
DO YOU SEE INSIDE?
LOOK CLOSER
WORK HARDER
TAKE A TINY STEP IN A NEW DIRECTION
DANCE
SING
JUST BELIEVE
YOU CAN BE BETTER
YOU CAN DO ANYTHING

Hard Rains

A cold rain falls on an ocean of loneliness
Pain & sadness adds to frustration
Trapped in the mud of kind,
Trapped in my muddled mind
Love in darkness adds to confusion.
Cold tears fall on an ocean of indifference
And I have given up the fight.

Writhing Beneath

Drowning in stygian seas
Black, muddy waves engulf completely.
And cold waters toss me about easily
Like winds toss balloons.
Floating in this gloom, I taste
The salt crystals biting my eyes.
I don’t want to cry.
Drowning is nothing;
Drowning is easy.
I just fall into the wet abyss and give up me.
No light here; no saving shining brilliance.
This is the fee.
And black wet sea and sand is stuffed
Down my parched throat
-choking my exaltations at being released.

There is a lot of Darkness
But do try to see the light
There are beasts behind the masks
Evil in their smile
Death in their eye
Shiny fragments glinting cold
a howling rage
Buried deep in  throat

Calculating awareness
wily maneuvers & deception.
Temptations rustle
Shadows dance

Don't stray from the lighted path

The wind beckons
caressing you closer .
Don't give in.
Be strong, steadfast.
A tilt & tumble can be righted.
There is a lot of Darkness but
do try to see the light.

The loveworn careworn way.
The softer narrow
straightened arrow.
No blessed darkness but blessed light.
See the signs
A heart thumping steadily
not galloping in fright
no wide eyes but slow heavy lids

Deep steady breath
No frantic pants
No desperation
No fear
No hurry
Slow & steady

Trust in the way
Feel the warm lit path carry you
Turn away from cold chilled mysteries and shadow fog Illusion dreams
There is a lot of darkness
but do try to see the light.

*© Lesley Wood