The spirit wriggled free
And flew
And through
The memories it knew
It grew
Anew.

The subtle certainty
Of a trap carefully laid
I never heard the word
Perpetrator
'Til I went to women's aid......

Colour me a picture
in a kaleidoscope of words
change a sheet of plain white paper
to a message to be heard
painting in emotion
in shades of pink and blue
filling in the detail
in every other hue
'til my mind aligns
with your mind
seeing what you see.

LIFE

Life is full
I'm full of life
and
life is full of me
each place you look
I'm in that place
and
little bits of me
shine in your face
and
make you smile
and
you'll remember me.

No! Is a hard rejection
A negative adverb
An unwelcome word
Avoided
By not asking.

I look through fingers of light
And feathers of ice
In the milky glow
Of a full moon
In a cloudless,starlit sky.
I can see for miles at midnight
As the midwinter frost
Settles on the land.

I made jam,
rhubarb with redcurrant,
rhubarb with raspberry,
strawberry,blackcurrant,
but the rhubarb with apricot,
it was just the best jam ever
ne plus ultra
mmmm.............

Distant stars
shine down on me
tinier than they.
The moon
in all her glory
softly lights my way.
Yesterday
recedes from me,
tomorrow
rushes by,
today
becomes the distant past
with my memories
and I.

I watch,
the ocean of emotion
welling up
through limpid eyes
in fearful, tearful panic
clutching at the straws
that are granddad
that true constant
love
unspoken.

Monday did not seem
so far away
until you said you'd meet me
on that day.
A knot of excited anticipation
tightens
with its' slow
and tortuous approach.
The conversation
that I can't believe
I had with you
echoes in my head.
The impossible dream
that I had been content to nurture
in a gentle fantasy
now threatens to explode
into my waking reality.
You answered the question
I had not dared to ask
and the subtle invitation
flutters
like butterflies
behind the mask
that you have seen through.

There's a light on, on my dashboard
I've not seen that before,
I don't know what the light means
the manual's in the drawer.
That light is quite annoying
with it's constant warning flash,
I need to find a garage
not sure I have the cash.
Ah! this place looks quite friendly
I'll pull in here and ask.
"Well yes " the kind man told me
"it's nothing of a task".
The man was very patient
he never shouted once.
Thank God he never charged me
now I can buy my lunch.

Earth woman
rises
from her Winter bed
breathing out new life
her children
****** and scrabble
through her crust
to grow and stretch
and live.
Her sun
shines down
his gentle warmth.
Her rain
to quench
their thirst.
And all around
they dance
and prance
and celebrate
their birth.

So much time and space
for the things
that have been smothered
and forgotten.

At this juncture it would seem
your ubiquitous problems
have become obscene
so
to make all this less operose
delve deep and
find the root and show
that you can stem the flow
at the fountain head
and choose the right
route instead.

He looked at me
that child of knowing eyes,
knowing eyes
of iridescent blue.
Blue pools gazing
blue gaze searching
for a link.
A link of recognition.
New, wise soul
old,wise soul
connecting
smiling
love.

We go deeper than any pain
we may have suffered
when fingers from a dark past
pointed in accusation
and we sprang apart
like startled cats
bolting in different directions


trying to look innocent.

At the closing of the day
I lay me down to sleep
where Hypnos sends me drowsy
to the arms of Morpheus
and I fly
with the winged Hermes
to the land of dreams.

The Summers flash by
green and succulent
like stations in the night
through the long journey of life.

Over run
with every body's problems.
Over come
with cries of help, I want, I need.
Over strung

Help!

We suffer disconnection
No sign of reconnection
Face to face
Two metre space
Practice isolation.

Don't focus
on the negative
otherwise
that's the world
you'll live in.

A single rose danced stiffly
in the cold December dawn
her petals turned
like blood red lips
to greet the Winter sun.

Her sisters had danced
before her there
but they knew better times
hot blue skies and leafy trees
the intimate kiss of honey bees
in a world that sang
and chirped and hummed with life.

But even though the sun is weak
and all around is in retreat
the wind blows cold
and days are short
still
she holds her head with pride
to take one final curtain call.

When you care about
What people think
You pander
To their need
Not yours.

Poised on the edge of forever
on the wings of a song and a prayer
taking chances of now or never
is the end of the rainbow near?

We are but a spark in infinity
each moment already the past
we look to the future but cannot see
toward it our gambles are cast.

Taking flight in any direction
can we know what the outcome will be?
arriving at our destination
not sure it's the right place to be.

Faced with a thousand decisions
not knowing the right one to take
setting out full of grand ambition
struck down by the cold hand of fate.

Poised on the edge of forever
on the wings of a song and a prayer
taking chances of now or never
is the end of the rainbow near?

Everything's so still.

Looked at through a cobweb
on a fresh September dawn
bedecked with shining dewdrops
on the rose bush on the lawn,
while below me in the valley
a swathe of thick white mist
snakes along the river
waiting to be kissed
by the first long rays
of the sun's embrace
peeping o'er the hill.

Everything's so still.

On the edge of another dimension
I look through the cracks
catching snatches of a memory
long lost in time.

Voices rise and fall in muted conversation
and shadows surround me
drawing me towards infinity
suspended in time.

Like a sleepwalker I fear the night
and the promise that hangs heavy on the silence
and the spinning lights that wheel in on the wind
holding me in their brilliance.

Spellbound in anticipation
I watch as the cracks
widen on the memory
that I know was mine'

I know that I should
and I would if I could
but it's just impossible.
It's not that I will not
it's just that I can not
but I shall.................
maybe.

Bare branched silhouette
Sky larks pirhouette
Blue sky
Sunshine
Spring's arrived.

my words are the product of my imagination
coloured by the emotions of my experience.
I have plumbed the depths of despair
and soared on the dizzy heights of elation.
For the most part I have tossed on the seas of humanity,
where frailty and strength move side by side.

Nothing was so green
as the glittering grass
oozing with dew.
Nothing so red
as that brick wall
criss-crossed with snail trails
or the rose that shuddered
in the morning breeze.
Nothing was so blue
as the sky reflected
in the lake below.

You walk in the door
sour eyed
pretending to be sober
you cross the floor
veering wide
and almost falling over
I stare at you
the baby cries
and I start feeling guilty
why?

Travelling on the treadmill of time
we only stop to die.
Did we but know when we were born
of the fate of you and I.
The moment of birth we cannot recall
death we cannot foresee.
Just two more cogs on the treadmill of time
is the fate of you and me.

Finally I am destroyed
broken on the wheel of life
cast away into the void
by the winds of change.
My orphans wander
through life's maze
that brings them now
to take my place.

And my tears fall
to see them so.

I am the meek
the old and the weak,
the blinded beggar
on the street,
the little boy soldier
who dies in ignorance,
the young girl exploited
in her innocence.
I am an endless trail
of life and hope
crushed underfoot
by the greedy and heartless,
the selfish and Godless
who steal the soil
from my roots.

They pass by slowly,hands held out
smiling eyed and greedy mouthed'
back up against the wall I plead
in tearful confusion--I can't pay.

and in the corners of my mind they stand
tight lipped,pale eyed.
wavering fingers point with scorn
and they whisper,whisper,whisper.

"Who is the guilty one ?" they say
"any less than I !" they cry
"and you !" their fingers point"can't pay!"
and they whisper,whisper,whisper.

The hungry sit in silent rows
the wailing old man baby grows
too weak to **** the empty breast
too weak to cry above the rest.

It's mother, old beyond her years,
her children drowning in her tears,
won't live to see another day
and why? well she can't pay.

They pass by slowly hands held out
hollow eyed and hungry mouthed
back up against the wall they plead
in tearful confusion -- they can't pay .

Take a snapshot of
this moment
this moment
is already the past.

Gentle wind touched my cheek
breathing softly.
Whispering caresses danced over me
rippling my hair
stroking my skin
lulling me.

I slept.

Gentle wind rolled me over
and over
fluttering , leaf like
rising and falling
billowing.

I dreamed.

I soared on the wings of elation
and touched,for a moment,
the soft tranquility of peace,
and in the silence of my mind
I felt a soft insistence
a silent probing
that touched my soul
and filled me with longing.

The edge of eternity lay before me
beckoning with shining eyes
and I undulated
gently
to and fro
reaching out with tendrils of myself.

Searching

The edge of perception
lay always out of reach
veiled in the mists of forgetfulness
flashing impressions
too vague to recognize
and remember

too long ago

I awoke.

My dreaming mind
makes me face
my pain,my fear
my destiny.
My dreaming mind
has no sense
of now or here
or when in me.
My dreaming mind
excites a state
of open tiers
of love in me
and I can look at you
and know
a soul
that knows me.

You live your life
through the lies you tell
on a fairy tale trail
through the gates of hell

You point your finger
looking to blame
any but you
seems you have no shame

Insincere pleading
we don't want to hear
you turn on your smile
through crocodile tears

Hooked like a worm
you wriggle and squirm
turn on the charm
why don't you?

Yesterday's sky
grey,overcast,
hanging heavy
humid
threatening deluge
all gone today.
Change
to hot, clear blue
cloudless
sunshine
promising Summer.

There's an elephant
in the boardroom
here's the scapegoat.......
in the tearoom.

In our own space
we are everything
to the rest of the universe
we are nothing
null.

I am looking at a raindrop

Imagine

In that raindrop is

A whole universe

In that universe is a constellation
we call
the Milky Way
and in the Milky Way
is our Solar System.

Imagine

you

are in that Solar System
standing on the planet Earth

and I

am looking at the raindrop.

How much of me can you see?

How much of you can I see ?

First frost
Riming the landscape
A white dawn
Announced by the crow's harsh call
The waning moon hanging
In a cloudless sky
As the rising sun's rays
Twinkle on the frosted fields.

In a fog of indecision
through the maze of no solution
in the face of contradiction
with a blind determination
on the wings of inspiration
fly the seeds of our salvation.

Shouting out the same old flannel
"It's someone else's fault!"

And with growing consternation
with no room for calculation
and with every indication
of an error in direction
showing signs of desperation
and a lack of revelation.

All the constipated channels
grinding slowly to a halt.

What is the expectation
of the chance of liberation
from the threat of destitution?
when, with growing trepidation,
the failing constitution
fails to find a sure solution.

Is it just one more example
of the lessons to be taught?

The concept of lost
is unfathomable
the idea of gone
is so deep
it cannot be found

Together,alone
we talk
about everything
and nothing.

A trail of years
laced together
with broken promises
threats and regrets.

You say I spit resentment
and share nothing of myself
while you
stand on the outside looking in.

The promise of love
held always at arms' length
demanding more in return
always more in return.

You ****** me in
and closed me down
trapped with the  pain of old wounds
which you throw in my face
like acid
and I close the lid tighter
while the pressure builds

waiting to explode
and expose me.

Always say please
and thank you
my grandma
used to say
follow this rule
and be sure
that  you'll
go through life
the right way.

A moment past midnight
I greet
the first day of the rest of my life
and kiss
good bye to yesterday.

The memories remain

incognito

filed away
with the lost dreams and regret
for the love
that somehow became conditional.

I can't change this.

Tomorrow holds the future
bright with hope
and new dreams
and lessons from the past

demanding change

demanding space

demanding recognition

I can change this.

Sleeping
Like a couple of earthworms
Wound around each other
Mating.

Don't see yourself
as the nuisance before the pain
or see yourself
as the cloud before the rain
            instead
see yourself
as the credit before the prize
and the love that shines
from your children's eyes.


2017