Love is like chocolate

Sometimes Sweet

Occasionally bitter

Now and again a little too much

But you always end up wanting more!

A large black cat you never owned but once admired because you thought you should

Just to be polite

You follow it and watch it run through an open door and find a house you knew

But not

Because the house is in a place you never lived, and waiting for you inside

Is a weird girl from long long ago, from school

You haven't given her much thought in over thirty years

Although she lived next door the Richardsons or was it the Taylors and once worked in the chemist where your dad got his pills

Before he moved to the coast

You never liked her

She tagged along and always wanted to be your friend

Perhaps this dream is in her head

Not yours!

The tiny bit that you don't see

I only keep it around for me

The one that's there when I'm on my own

Who I am when left alone

I have others I don't hide

But that's my public facing side!

Robert Johnson

King of the blues

All shiny shoes and tilted hat

They don't come any hotter that that

He played the tunes of hearts desire

Guitar that smoked unholy fire

Furious notes from flaming fingers

Cracks the summer heat and lingers

Floating on the delta air

Each string a song of dark despair

Did Robert Johnson sell his soul

For music that would make him whole

Beauty style and heavenly grace

May start off in another place

The devils music leaves an odour

Could it be a whiff of soda!

Don't judge us for how long the road has been

Give us credit for the things we might have seen

We may not be quite as young and fit as you

But remember we have seen it done it smoked it drunk it too!

No one wants to see your bubble burst

But honey we were there and did it first

So do your worst x

The craft of seeing

What could be

Creating

And making  

A possibility

The world is insane

It was always so

Now we know about it

We infect each other

With our instant madness

Clever children found the matches

We can all watch the burning!

Is the planet a nation?

You tell me

How many raindrops get lost in a sea

A nation is anything you want it to be!

The words that slip

Wax

Dripping through your fingers

Lost in form

Melting

Snuffed away

The failing candle of the mind

Leaves only smoke

Bitter and drifting

Fleeting beauty

Hanging possibility

The lingering fragrance of what might have  been

A bond of light

Finger strong

Yet soft as the touch of skin

A silken thread forged in the heat of breath

Milk fire

Burning souls

White Hot

Cool as midnight

Blue Calm

Smoky and intense

Joining hearts and minds

Passion-Bird

Flying free at last

Liquid Sunrise

A burning arrow

Of dragon flame

Between us

The profits of crime

Are not half as sublime

As the wages of sin

So jump right on in!

A hidden lance of green

To pierce the grip of winter's icy breath

As sharp as kitten claws

Yet delicate as painted window frost

The herald calling softly

Rousing far more mighty forms to wake from sleep

Spring has begun

Your head is the shed

Where the memories live

It's not right

That this thief in the night

Slowly takes you

And un-makes you

Until there is just

The rust

Dusty marks on the shelf

That once contained

Your sense of self!

February is a song of wind and rain

The sleeping giant of spring

Is not yet awoke.

February is the watchman

Silent and grey

Waiting for the smoke

Of green shoots and new life

To creep under the door

Words you once read

Voices long dead

A silent sonata

Of sounds in your head

End of the food chain

Tasty for lunch

There's a good reason

We swim in a bunch!

Silken spider thread

Cobweb soft

A whispered sigh

Hanging on the breeze

Silent song of hard worked creation

Strung like pearls to catch the morning

Intricate patterns

Each tiny artist works alone

Beauty on the wire

A gallery of infinite variety

Sunrise

Flaming birth of day

Flamingo colours

Boiling sky

And newly minted dawn

To pierce the night

With crimson rain

Of burning stars and heaven flame

It's your first day

Don't worry

You are new to life

I am older

I will hold your hand

And show you the way

You have so many roads to discover

Some we will travel side by side

Others we walk alone

One day you will leave me

Quietly in the shade of a tree

Following your own path

Don't worry

Memories will always lead you

Back to the roads we walked together

In the slammer

Doing stir

Eating porridge

Do your time

Does the punishment

Fit the crime

Is this the act of a civilised nation?

Revenge or rehabilitation

If we send someone away

On a governmental holiday

Slamming shut that big grey door

Should we question a little more

What the hell are we doing it for?

How long?

Four years maybe five

Still alive

Survivor of a storm

At least it's warm

And fairly flat

Except for the hill

Which I still

Climb every day

It's the only way

You could see a sail

I have to believe

That I will leave

My sandy jail

Do I need to explain

It's the way I keep sane

The thought that there might

Be a touch of white

Sailing the blue

Is what gets me through

Yet another day

As a castaway

Smooth

Sometimes round

Sound as a pound

A chamber for nesting

For sitting and resting

Awaiting the call

An egg has it all

Bubbles are children

Filled with hope

And lightness of being

Gaily coloured birds that long to be free

If you hold them too tight

They will leave you forever

All you can do is to watch them

As they float around for a while

And wave them goodbye

When the wind blows

That intimate space

Inner sanctum of the discarded sock

That empty coffee cup

You meant to take downstairs

Borderland between light and dark

A place of extremes

Joy and love and sometimes fear

Where we can truly be ourselves

At our most vulnerable

When we close the door

We switch off,

The clock hits pause

We sleep,

Defenceless

Against the monsters under our beds

And the ones inside our heads!

The sun that rises on my dreams

Is frosty cold

Ice fills my head.

Beyond all knowing in my mind

Is the hollow keening wind

Which sings around corners

Seeking out the pavement cracks

It blows my thoughts

And leaves me scattered

Crow picked to the core

A shredded howling

Maids see it all

But they  hardly ever tell

Well...

Occasionally one might sell

A juicy story

About you in naked glory

To add to your fame

And your shame

It's all part of the game

Who can blame

The person who buffs

And fluffs

Your stuff

On minimum wage

For making some cash

As you hit the front page!

We don't all have a choice

A selective voice

Some get what they get

No being upset

They are the losers

Others are choosers

They pay to play

And have it their way

They will always win

With another spin

We all have to learn

That an extra turn

Will put you on top

No matter how much

You want the ball to stop

One who will give

Instead of take

Most of the income that they make

A lot of them are merely fake

They splash the cash but all the while

The guilt is there behind the smile

How do you think they made their pile?

Mother

Creator

Giver of life

We cannot do without her

Often she is ignored

Abused

Constantly repairing the damage

Caused by her wayward children

Patiently she endures

Although she is tired

Now and again she will snap

And show us  that we have gone too far

She has been sitting on the nest

For a million years or more

Watching her playful chicks

Become wilful destructive toddlers

Unable to comprehend the damage they cause

She hopes that they will grow

To appreciate her worth

She waits and she waits and she waits...

The hammer blow

On your thumb

For a moment it's numb

A lightening flash

The clash of flesh and steel

Suddenly real

White hot rain

Reaches the brain

And converts to pain!

The apple of the mind starts small

A tiny bud without form

Flowering in the spring of our lives

Full of hopeful promise

Blooming

Summer sweet

Red and juicy

Or crunchy and full of bite

Some are windfalls

Cast aside

Before their time

Others become *****

Hidden maggots in the heart

Ripeness gently falls to autumn decay

We wither and we die

Returning to earth when we have cast our seeds

Leaving younger fruit to take our place

On the tree of life

You strip me naked from the neck up

Run with my thoughts and bounce them

Take everything

Leave nothing but your opinion,

A termite

Eating at the hollowed log that once was me

Woodpulp on the forest floor

Far below where you cannot see

Infinite and beautiful

In variety and colour

Fungi flower in the light of your shadow

My hidden garden of words

Flowers come in all shapes and sizes

Like people

Did you ever see an ugly flower

They are natures gift to the earth

Like people

Sometimes there are just too many

They take over

Like people

It can take years for them to grow

Then they flourish and surprise you

Like people

The smaller less showy ones

Are often the most loved

Like people

Victory wine can be  divine

A taste of defeat is not quite as sweet!

Whatever you choose to put in your glass

Finish it off then let it pass

Cork the bottle and shut it away

Drink the rest another day!

Follower

Leader

Sky dancer

Wind chaser

Shadow jumper

I am horse

In the eye of a fly

The world rushes by

They see it all trippy

And fractured and zippy

As if they were high

Not sure why

Perhaps we should try!

Letters returned to sender

My heart in the blender

Fingers burned

Lesson learned

A whisper you heard

A spoken word

It has the power

To change your life

It may be untrue

But think of the damage

A word can do

She is the iceberg

That cuts a jagged hole in time

And a jagged hole in you

Scything deep

Carving the past

Leaving you adrift

In a sea of memory

No longer shared

A pebble in a sea of glass

Shattered mind raindrops

Fragile as cobwebs

Sun strong and shadow deep

Infinite and fleeting

Planet sized in the palm of your hand

Belief is everything

And nothing at all

Ice on fire

Burning desire

Of melted heart

And flame

No shame or blame

We  both knew the game

Before we started

And now we have parted

So it didn't last

But we had a blast

All the same

I slipped through a crack in the world

To a place where dreams lay dying

And a hundred empty bottles broke my fall

Invisible to all the stomping feet

Who would not see

Among the cans and the sidewalk garbage

You came and lifted me

***** blind and raging

Gave me wings

And mended the tear in my soul

Made me whole

So I would not fall again.

A borrowed  knife without a blade

The sharpest sting

Slices deep and plunges in

Down through mango stone and bone

Soft beneath the outer skin

Reveals the running juice within!

We burn to learn

To seek to find

For a curious mind

The world is a mine

Of thoughts divine

And absurd

The written word

Is food

A layer cake

Built up and baked

Over time

Seasoned

With reason

Hills can be short

And they can be tall

Some people make them

From nothing at all

The climb’s not a question

Of strength or of will

It’s always the climber

That makes the hill!

Your average girl

Is mostly Grrr

With a bit of whirl!

To Create
Is the highest point of man
Not because you should
Just because you can!

Creeping frost

Cold and hard

As charity or jewellers knives

Which melts and quickly turns to flame

The *** that boils

Magnesium hot

Phoenix bright

Cold tears

Sticky with regret

Which sooth and calm

Balm for the soul

Beneath the skin

And healing can begin

Yearning

When soul fire

Longs to be free

Heart and Bone

Ache

But the words don't come

And beauty is stilled

A dry garden

Dust in the wind

A living thing

empty

With the promise

Of rain

Tomorrow