I wrapped all my nonsense in brown paper tied with string
and threw it in an imaginary canal weighted down with a brick.
A big part of me drowned in the murky dirt filled depths,
but slowly and surely my nonsense seeped back out, infecting all the fish.
And the fish made no sense, telling each other nonsense, in a poets breath.

..still waiting for it
clinging onto the last vestige
of hope
pretending to be sane
waiting for closure
and deliverance from pain

When the talking stops
a small silent space
before the guns are pulled
is often a forlorn peace
hardly noticed, forgot.

My life is caught in confusion
I'm full of delusions
Don't know what I'm doing
I'm full of excuses

What is the use of it all?
Will I fail will I fall?
Will I walk will I crawl?
And if I don't love
what's it matter at all?

If I've failed the subtleties of this
A tender smile, a tender kiss
Failed to love
Renders this existence
Overwhelmingly useless

So hold me strong
We'll go on
There'll be a point
Where we move on from
Bitterness, feeling careless
like nothing ever mattered less

Just waiting for the start
A dying of self
I'm sick of never caring about
somebody else
To the extent to which my friends
Look like everyone else

And my family's gone where?
I don't know
They're in limbo
Right now though
It's cold and it's dark
It doesn't feel like home

I've got to stay true
To what I set out to do
Which in hindsight I conclude
I haven't got a clue
Just something better for you
Any of you.
I want to be the one to say
You didn't go where I've got to

Dry lips
Soft sounds
Creaking house
Soft skin
I read your lips
Have you ever heard
Of a feeling quite like this?
Have you ever felt something so slow?
It felt so wrong
But now you feel so whole
And the darkness covers all
The sweetest sigh, the fastest fall,
When the dark is so safe and so warm
When the darkness feels like home
When the only light that's guiding you
Is breathing, feeling
Slow

Leaves alight
Ice in my veins
calmest crawling calamity,
Slowly enraging serenity

Ashen fall
Forever frail and perishable
An insignificant mass of beautiful petals
Crushed beyond repair
You don't want to hide it
You know what's there

I didn't do it for me
I did it for you
And that's what helped me bloom
I was gone and you were there
Repairable don't you see?
The holding ground of your roots is strong
You weren't affected by the storm

Show me daylight,
Show me warmth
Let my sweet serendipitous buds form
I would say it is the end of crumpled leaves
and worn out weeds
But truth be told
I will always be close to withering
So endure the inevitable
Entwine our pedicles and
Let's claim the soil together
Please never rely on weather
My bloom is more reliant
on the Sun than you might think

One says
"I'll race you to the gutter."
The other one says
"Yeah, but I'll beat you to hell."
Followed by lots of liquid laughter
And they think they're joking

                                     By Phil Roberts