A black blunt knife
She is, not a wife
Seems to be a life

Lockdown a housewife asks what it might be
Staying home going nowhere for a month or so
Oh I've been in that state ten and a score.
Why do people complain its never boring as they say. Washing and the cooking the dishes and the floor only my aching back reminds me it's night.
In school and college I was the star of the stage now my stage is the kitchen and the dining room the smile on satisfied faces I consider reward enough.
Happy with my work satisfied with my state.

I'm lost in your eyes.
Shining beauty like gemstone.
Hearts entwined, always.

drove friend to doctor
counting wheelchair ramp spindles
~waiting for Godot



© 2020 Mark Toney

the dream did not come true:
i have a beautiful wife
one leg
left eye

appendix
full of soul
food

The second hand of the clock
starts moving
anti clockwise.

The tears on my face
seep back
into my eyes.

I fly and spiral
down
a black hole.

The time
spins and warps
out of control.

I zoom by
all the places
that we’ve been to.

Right to the very
first moment
that I’ve met you.

.uoy teem ot eciN

And it all begins again.

He Waits for his wife
Sitting in her lawbreaking bra at the bar

These days she goes by
Kathleen

Something odd is brewing in the kitchen
Even the dog is howling

One mouthful is tempting
But better not swallow

Otherwise, it's a certain trip
To Little Red's recovery room

I want to drink all the juices of it’s light
we can be bigger than this, older than this
the ocean is only here for a while for us
underneath your fingers I can already see
the shaping of the amethyst

we won’t tell the wind
that this one day you will cross the street waiting for me
on the opposite side our umbrellas will touch
a glimpse of a smile and your hand waving apologetically
flying like a bird away from my sight
there you will be, my invisible wife
we won’t tell the winds, we won’t tell the seas
they are only here for a while

that night when I fall asleep
I will see the rivers on your palms leading me through
that night we will leave life, my invisible wife
and we will finally be

I see you, you are
The lights that are
Making the earth see

And I, I've failed
To recognise the torch
That's inside of me

So please,
Please help me see
I can be better
Than present me
Ever thought I could be

Show me, we can break free
From the constraints of the ropes
That we once walked

Please,
Please help me see
That we're better
And that we're free
We've grown to believe

My pillow once grabbed me
By the hand
And I felt laden
Like a beach full of sand

Please
Please make me see
Now I'm better
Than I thought I could be
I promise I'll grow

Please, Please
Make me see
That we're better
We've realised our dreams
'cause now I know
You're the light I reach for