poets do not really suffer from 'writers block'
they just go into listening mode for awhile.

Shine on you blacknight
like the dark light of a dead star

deep as a black well
drawn from my memory

clear as a mirror
over the mouths of the dead.

Clear as a bell I caught sight of my image on a wanted poster "way out west" as a former president of the USA claimed, " dead or alive"
and in that moment Mankind took a big step backwards to the Old Testament" eye for an eye" and all our faces merged into one on a poster nailed to every telegraph pole the further West we travelled.

I wandered around my grandparents'
Home and saw the forbidden door ajar.
Although locked, they told me to steer
Clear, one step in was one step too far.
The room was gloomy, draped in webs,
With a single painting on the wall,
Lighted by a flickering bulb, imploring
Me to flee from the painting’s call.
She looks at me with longing eyes,
The girl in the painting on the wall.
Alive she seems on her swing, legs
Dangling, holding a torn ragged doll.
She’s not alone, children frolic around
Her beside the lake and wild grass.
Yet she swings gazing intently at my
Soul, willing me to touch the frame glass.
My hands obey and reach for her world
And I find myself pulled inside.
I stood before the girl. Hey friend,
I’m Sally, she said, and smiled wide.  
We swam in the lake, played tag, and
Enjoyed a picnic, but the sun never sank.
Minutes rolled to hours and hours, days.
Indeed, time was merely a divine prank.
What’s your name? I would ask the other
Children, but none of them knew.
I’d ask where they came from,
But mumbles they’d only spew.
Sally I must go home! Please help me!
Don’t you like it here? We are friends.
Friends don’t leave, you understand?
Those who come, their stay never ends.
Her smile then twists to a fiendish grin
Revealing jagged, rotten yellow fangs.
Sally giveth, Sally taketh away, Sally
Stole my heart today, the children sang.
Wherever I ran, I’d end up at the same place,
Sally on her swing beneath the oak tree.
She then waved at the glassy blue sky.
My grandparents looked down upon us
With wicked smiles and laughing eyes.
You’ve been a naughty boy, Paul.
Now you’re in the painting on the wall.

Into the goblet of life did I poor myself, convivially jaunting; jumping for the juniper as if jolted into life for the first time by the cosmic current that sublimely filtered reality from the dream that had become my truth.

I, beheld to the newly found perceptions, careening through the trees, trampling upon crisp leaves, on my way to scenic experiences, was ever looking forward to the hopeful thrill and living in anticipation of the next climactic excitement.

I would be unable to be complemented by the moment, in which I did not truly live.

The adventure became a tragedy,
As is always with the changing of innocence into untoward regret.

Tears were novelties that were bartered for kindness, traded for the rhyme, but never the shine.

Illumination is priceless.

Asking the prayers of the dead
those who have passed this way
and gone further than all the living.

All is turned upside down
where the dead ask the prayer of the living
and no separation is evident.

The wing beats of a Butterflies love
is felt just as much here,
as in the spirit world.

You left your image indelibly across the Universe
the sounds of your songs beating deep into space
everything vibrates with your joyful freedom
all has changed irrevocably because of your voice
that gentle cadence of a loving heart made manifest
the unique person you have shared freely for eternity
we witness and bare our own souls singing with yours
you are a poet, and you are a poet for all, for all time.

you brought a Christmas tree in from the cold
like giving a homeless wanderer shelter
dressed the tree in your finest decorations
and hung festive chocolates on its branches.

Your photos gave me inspiration
warming me to the theme of Christmas
and the love at the centre of everything
came to mind due to your efforts.

We are critical.

We find flaws in
everything we see
because nobody
wants to write
about perfection,
even though sometimes
we wish we could just stay
staring into that
unblemished surface.

2. We are never satisfied.

We live our lives upon
mountains of
scrunched up
bits of refill and
ideas we gave up
trying to
express.

3. We never forget.

We write words about
eye contact made
three months ago
that we replay over
and over in our minds
even though it
stopped
being relevant.

4. We are fickle.**

Our emotions flash
from one
to the other
like strobe lighting that
disorientates us
until we feel as if
the world
will never be still.

5. We are exposed.

We don't know how
to keep our feelings
to ourselves so
we'll write them
down for
you to find
'accidentally'.

6. We are vulnerable.

We wear our
hearts on our sleeves
and won't lift a
muscle to fight back
if somebody tries
to break it
because we thrive
from the pain.

7. We will never stop.

We will never stop
feeling and
we will never stop
hurting,
we will never stop
breaking and
bleeding and
loving
even though the cycle
is endless
and we know what's
coming next.


We are addicted
to agony,
but we agonise
for the art.