The Librium sun slides its hand slowly up my thigh, and beyond
as I pan out to see the day has tipped in our favour

Rosé clinks and frittata stuffed mouths
scrambling to get to the punchline
Everyone I love is here, and you
digging your heels into the Corsica sand

I peer at the pier and consider jumping
into the unknown with another

Laughter jangles, as I open my eyes
and we race barefoot to the end of the line
left-right-left we stumble, almost in time
another vertiginous rise, another sudden decline

I swim around your edges
basking in the partial eclipse
of a past still missed
If only you knew what we did last night
with uncontrolled lips

But this lake is us
hemmed by the shores of the possible
A calm surface, with my needs, settled on the bottom
as you paddle the surface, eyeing continuance

A glass half empty, is empty, if you are already so
And want can't impress a stone heart, via sensibility alone

Just a boy, just a girl, with all the tools to connect
Minus the glowing warmth of empathy, beating in her chest

Blame is fallacious, an indulgent, subjective pursuit
Unless it's real, an ode laden, with nothing but the truth

Because all I really wanted, was to be loved and understood
And you tried each incarnation, but never really felt you could

So thank you for the wasted years
The opportunities choked and gone
The nights I laid awake fretting about
What the hell I'd actually done wrong

Because a day with you is ordinary, always
And vapid prayers sent above
Are just my hopeless echoes pondering
Why there's not enough love

A girl I knew, found a brook, in the garden,
filled with wine. All empties laid due south.
So she followed it through the hollow ends,
to where melodies take their time.
Smiling out loud, she fell in love, a little more
than prudence recommends.
But love (as art) is on patience dime,
so she paddled downstream, to unearth a mighty river.
A righteous swell, full of harmony ebbs and echoes,
forgetting she'd even knelt upon its suburban shores and
swapped 'should haves' with ennui.
Curiosity, unsated, she built a boat
and surfed the fickle, fickle tides;
one day drifting in water so wide
she believed she'd tacked into the sky.

Your electric smile
those sly, ***** lips
your tongues natural flare
for unfathomable tricks
that ethereal pause
as the universe blows
stilted, coarse breaths, then you go

The secret, she whispered, who knows if it’s true
'there’s a ring on my finger, but it’s always been you'

Veronica Harmonica Wipe My *** Clean
Was the prettiest princess, the kingdom had seen

She had wealth and a fortune; glamour and fame
But the one thing she lacked, was a beautiful name

Now, Veronika knew, that she'd gotten off lightly
Compared to her brother, Wet The Bed Nightly

Her sister, ***** Burp, really liked her name
Her cousin, Toilet Thunder, exactly the same

It keeps us all ground, stop being a brat
But Wipe My *** Clean, couldn't leave it at that

So she requested a meeting, with Father, the King
And jotted a poem, to make her claim sing

The trumpets wailed, as her name was announced
I know who she is, from the throne, came a shout
To everyone else, he was King Dinkle ***** (the third)
But to his little girl, he was simply Daddy

I love you Daddy, she said with a twirl
These dresses, this lifestyle, I'm the luckiest girl
You've captured me oceans, chocolates, and pearls
The Sultan with swing, the king of the world!

But I have to confess, that some nights I cry
She's could tell it was working, by the look in his eye
It's my name you see, this title, this moniker
Please daddy let me drop the name Veronika

The King was astounded, sat still for sometime
Before screaming out, But then it won't RHYME!

She hovered the buttercup under my chin / stay still / you wally / can you feel anything? / it was hardly a match / a pin / or a stick /
but I played along / said it tickled a bit

She mumbled something / and crinkled her nose / like a junior doctor / reviewing their notes / she blew her fringe / 'this isn't easy to say' /
for the faint of heart / please now look away

So

Melissa told Karen / and Karen told Kate / you know / the spotty one in Mrs Brains class / well / Kate told Andy / and he told me / that if you hold a buttercup under a boys chin / and he feels nothing / then he'll grow up a farmer / or a lemonade seller

But

If it glows yellow / like a pin-hole sun / and it tickles / a little / then ring the alarm

Because

According to Karen's big sister Sally / the one caught smoking by the Happy Shopper / this is the boy you are going to marry!

She rose to her toes with firework eyes / the kiss was minty / a pleasant surprise / and this led to that / and that to the other / and that my love / is how I met your mother

Goodnight x

It’s so good to see you
wow, your scarf looks great!
I’d like to smear lipstick
all over that face

We share our updates
and quickstep around
the last time we met
like a bag on the ground

How’s your husband?
how’s your wife?
tell me, what you regret
most in this life?

She leans in closer
whispering secrets
of times, of places, of phantoms
she's been with

We reverb, hollow shapes and sounds
remind me, what you like?
as she touches my hand

Your electric smile
those puce, cidery lips
your tongues natural flare
for unfathomable tricks
that ethereal pause
as the universe blows
stilted, coarse breaths, then you go

The secret, she whispered, who knows if it’s true
'there’s a ring on my finger, but it’s always been you'

Are you sure your right / forever / if so / how lucky can one be / but what happens now / I’m cancelled / as the star of James TV / I can see your protecting arms around others / but there’s little space for me

A puritan polemicist / who’d dare argue with you / but they say if you truly want to lead / then you need to listen too

Let’s examine this apple / it’s bright and red and round / would you like to share it / slice it / lick it / choke it / then toss it to the ground / in the same way you treat nuance / as the sheriff of this town

If you’ve solved the world / then I’m so proud of you / I’ll keep on / forging my way / fumbling on / making mistakes / knowing it won’t be long / until your cancelled too

Because what you believe now my love / soon will not be true / and when it’s not / in a shot / we’ll all be judging you!

A helpful teen
with girly friends
on holiday
in Newquay
let the lesson
commence.

Can you do me a favour
if you're off to the shops;
pick me up tampons,
marked normal on’t box

Yep, no problem at all.

Wow, a real mouth stretcher
a jumbo wodge porker
it slaps the ground
as it drops from my mouth

But Lisa and Liam are playing charades
exchanging sniggers, a ***** gaze
and don’t notice it slip under the sofa
to die.

Should 16 years old boys
know what they are?
I eyeball bus stop ads searching for clues
as I arrive at my reckoning
the Aldiest, Aldi, I’ve ever seen

I stakeout the aisle
containing ladies’ things
You know, lipsticks, cotton pads,
water that smells
I check for security
before I begin
some premeditated
drive-by
purchasing;
Yes, just like when I buy condoms

****. That’s one massive box!
a gargantuan bedrock
why didn’t she say?
how will I lug that all the way?
Shall I say they’ve sold out?
And each box is different
pluralist rejoice!
but none providing normal
as an option or choice
  
A shop assistant enters the aisle
at high noon
I’m forced to ask.
**** it, **** life, **** me in the ****!

Excuse me, Tracey (ooh pretty name)
what size do you buy
when you’re investing?
IN THESE - I ****** a box into her face
I still don't know why to this day
She reaches round me
'here you are love'
and rushes to safety
under plastic tassels

As I heave home my prey
what hero’s welcome will I receive?
a metrosexual epithet?
a badge of honour?
a heraldic coronet? Nope

SUPER! what the heck?
How big do you think my ***** is?

Now
I grew up in a house,
3 brothers
no daddy
and mother rarely talked about
what went up there

Lisa, settles and pulls me aside
Places her hands on my arms
‘Now, close your eyes’
Remember
last summer
after the fair
We swapped cidery kisses
on the bench by the tree
when it got dark
you put your hand up my skirt
what did it feel like?
A warmed poached egg…

…Strange, but ok
But not like Cheddar Gorge
Not a draughty, cavernous, unending space.
a vacuum, encompassing time and space!

…goes unpunished.

Matthew’s at the window
hope leaking from his eyes
he listens for your car exhaust
as another passes by.
What time is it? What time he say?
Mum; he’s climbing up the walls!
lower your expectations love
he might not come at all.
Last week it snowed in Plymouth,
my friends Dad walked to site
12 miles there, 12 miles back
returning late at night.
That’s what heroes are made of
promises kept, not frayed
someone who loves his children through
the ordinary days.
It’s easier now we’re older
you’ve started to get in touch
spouting gimcracks of wisdom
pretending to give a ****.
But I see the holes you made
the look in Mothers eyes
the times she had to bare her teeth
to make sure we survived.
So, let’s just call you Simon
because a real Dad, you know
wouldn’t leave his gorgeous boy
waiting at the window

A pelican shares a tale
of the warbler’s latest slide
claims the last time it saw love
was in freedoms taffy tides

If this is all I wanted
I’m a hoggish hurricane
swallowing oceans, stars, your hopes
to continue feeding dreams

The breeze is fully baked and wild,
as Poseidon offers her hand
and whisks us over surf and strips
and maybe back to land

In the back, there’s a buckled atlas
where scribbles plot out plans
outside, honeyed dunes shoulder
the burdened placed by man

A pelican shares a tale
of the warbler’s latest slide
claims the last time it saw love
was in freedoms taffy tides

But if seconds count, we made the boat
with at least five something to spare
and as we wave to strangers lost
a tonic boom cups my ear

‘It’s hot as the stinkin’ mud!’ she hollers
as Helios doubles down
isn’t it just, but this is a must
for those from out of town

And as our ferry kisses Carolina
I sense I’m lost and free
so, if you find this in a bottle
please, don’t look for me

I've not forgotten how
We loved out loud,
The taste of cider sunsets
On the cold English ground

Just butterflies shudder these lilac skies
as our little black books flutter
for a beauty that can forge through utter
cynical views of me and you
and break through wall to burst through

Is it the chase, we all aspire
Paris night, in evening attire

She bottles it up and sells it for gold
a magical ride, for the young and old
and when I remember, I smile to myself
of a chance once taken, not left on a shelf

Until the stars fall
or innocence sets in my eyes
I continue to waltz
In search of butterflies

When she rolls her eyes
the whole world moves
You know what I mean!
but I rarely do
She hunts my quiet side
in seesaw black
with a glass of Crémant
and a shotgun mouth
She only takes back
the arrows that miss
I long for a purr
but accept a hiss