Space to make change an indelible part of life

Encourage the stagnant side to enliven its speech
Flourishes of energy folding in on one another
Pecking, their beaks marking time with biting tongues
Sqeamish reminders of circus clowns vying for laughs
Staring eyes and red painted smiles freakishly scaring
The innocent rosy cheeked wondrous audience
Clapping the skin from their fingers while querelous
Adults sit bored hoping to borrow a new time zone
Spot checking the interest of those encroaching their space

Space to make change an indelible part of life

To fool the viewer of the showcased goods before their
Sell by date, when holding onto stagnation pales the hand of change
Quell the nausea that preludes sickness leaving that vile taste
Rancour alongside a grinning mass of stained teeth borrows
Sweating it out with flailing words of ignorant abandonment
Scorching hot tears racing one another, dripping from lowered
Eyelashes, coaxing the seeping colour coated debris to release
To wash away the dirt, leaving streaks of diluted aftermath

Space to make chnage an indelible part of life

To strive, for recognition

An assembly point for thought
Triumphed within an open page

Paper evidence of unspoken verse
Retrieved from the place behind this heart

Do you mind?

Don’t look over my shoulder at my vulnerability
Private stance is mine

Do not mock as I turn the page
A personal preview of this unlocked memory

Back of my neck, prickling
Anticipating on the spot reaction

Young, ill at ease
Crying from the yard

Hiding the scars
Don’t rush away the memories, a deluge

When time was so limited
Become brave

Force open the private recess
Cobwebbed and masked by dust

Speak clearly, not from mumbling
Mouth, I need to………….. know

I am blemished

So glad to be alongside you
Reunited, forgotten, forgiven.....now ribbon tied

Can we bury?
It would seem not......but wait and remember

Deceived by the dark
Under dressed for the occasion

Battered suitcase dragged and kicked open
Essays of remembrance

Headlines screaming for discussion
Released for a while

Obeyed and tidied
Press down and close the rusty catches

My new day transcribed here
I don’t mind, lean on my shoulder

See my vulnerability
It makes me strong

Filling up, wide eyed, breathing deep
Avoiding the spillage, the jerking motion
Rowers giving elbow grease to churn out sobs
Of substance, grandiose design to sorrow
Bold, emblazoned tears of texture, relay
Racing to the jawline finish, backup tissue
Business flourishing, mopping up the fast flow
Red eye fostering their talents with  expertise
Glooping globules on rain dance alert, dancing
The tango, the rumba, the belly dance parade
Of unchained dam busting, snot ravaging
Sodden and damp, choking its route outta here
All cryed out, on empty, exhaustion reigns, eyelids
Closing the stop tap to the off position, rearranging
Priorities to sleep mode, sinking down into sprung
Heaven, resting heavy lashes to bed, curling up
To while away the hours, silencing the alarm
Of solitude and inner turmoil, resting the think
Tank, cells charmed habitat of hybernation
Booked and paid for, down payment secured

cup of tea
for you and me
make a brew
for one or two

place the tea bag in the ***
pour the water boiling hot
stir it once or twice
put the lid on nice and tight

add the milk into the mugs
wait a while till liquids ready
lift the *** and pour it steady
take a spoon and circulate it

lift it up toward your lips
enjoy the perfect taste it gives
warming as it flows right through
what a way to share with you

a warm and excellent tasty brew

Opening up to Monday
I unwrapped myself from the duvet
Pasted my limbs to the floor
Slippers winked at me
Invitingly, I settled my feet into their snugness
As I stood, I was thankful that today
Is Monday, wonderful Monday
Free as a song bird to create
My own melody, a chorus of hurrah
I caught up with the shower
On hot house temperature
Scorching...I fumbled for the cool
Climate, turning it sufficiently to
Bathe and recycle myself
As I stroked the cat meowing
A feline opera, making her presence known
The outside world had a dismal feel
The window onto the day told me so
Yet, blue escorted the clouds
Pushing the doubting rain packages
To another realm
Introducing the blue yonder that
Had won the day
We all gathered up into the aroma
Of a new week, stretched our
Arms towards one another
I joined the links for a few hours
Tattooing their conversation into my
Subconscious indelibly
Unhooking ourselves we separated
Turning towards the duties of the day
Swiftly we deposited out parting gifts
Hugs
Kisses
Our best
Our loving wishes

‘That day’, bed held, quiet, noisy in my ear,
elongated, like aeroplane entrails, skyward.
You were not embarking on any holiday I knew,
I caught your final sigh out of this life.

Cards pressed to chest, pupils tucked in.
“Is that blue or green?” you said, squinting,
your dealt cards outstretched toward me,
“Uno” you shouted, laughed, we did, you did.

Multi coloured swap shop, ripe mosaic fruits,
a smile of hearts. In the back room, fire flickering,
news parting my lips, tongued syllables locating
your body language........between proud arm rests.

Summer, warm, brown faded wooden bench
caught my skirt in its skin, splintered my hand.
Chasing, breathy, laughing, heat haze flooded
rosy cheeks.......we watched.

Hopscotching along without care; you told the
tale, you said... “Your cardy was swinging in the air”
you frantic, too frantic for weighty words,
worry warrior stamped across your forehead.

I saw him... Ripping the posters of hope to the ground
The bear stuffed. Cardboard box a home he never dreamt of
An abandoned minefield of metal gongs.....still clanging
With life encircled on its rim, clearly in full erosion

One eye had begun to fall, clinging on by a theatrical thread
A small hole had appeared, the left ear on hard times
He looked  sad...his 'Bravo' days departed, kicked like an
Old tin can scattering nailed organs, strewn carelessly

The haphazards hurt the most; those that landed head first
They burrowed into the soft fur, grizzling through
Lack of gripe water to anaesthetise the first cut
Fur ***** were out of stock, cleaned right off the shelves

The posters painted with high definition, torn with sad
Hand shakes. Lined up ******* into fists, like used tissues
Their eye level aim skimmed the parcelled plots and slotted
Into basket cases, breathing in ***** dumpsters before their due date

Shrugging it off didn't work, shouldered earrings...stuck in rutted
Situ for too long. You came between them and the tombs of truth
Caused a nasty virus to accelerate. Baldness stole the soft
Funishings from your limbs in between the stuffing years

The day produced uncertainty,
wet slashes, whipped wind
battered the summer sun, grey misty
breath coughed then fell silent.

Teasing, the sun sprinkled a spun layer,
found pretty pockets to blink through.
Swallowing hard the sky shook
it's blue blanket, spreading wide,

seemingly inviting the sun to sit alongside,
to reminisce; a fine day ripened,
exhaled across the ocean,
breathing in the ebb and flow.

Up high the sun towered it's flaming
glory, chanted a rhythmic rhyme of radiance.
I celebrated, hugging its splendour,
felt it warm me to my bones.

When words fail and the song dies in your soul
The soft cushion weighs heavy, threadbare, when
Dust invites the attic attack to the last memory stroll
A fretful protest march accompanying the wood grained heart

You noticed the space in short supply, with tight breath, the
Expert bargaining skills have begun, bypassing
The weak hearts, those that are still journeying
Their healing held up in tight palms of moistoned skin

And the slide into another day begins, dreadfully
With arched pain barriers drumming their morning
Beat. Occupational hazard was on the rampage
Cracking skull caps from their skinned residence

I shone a light into the acute grey tone of those
Hearts, those whose shapes lost conviction as the light
Shot arrowed tongues from the deaf interiors of wise men
Out on the town of feeble failings, they held nothing as their companion

Take me to a place of rest
Of sweet circumstance with grace
Of shared riverside picnics
Of low hemlines and modesty
Enchanted by a smile
Of gentle persuasion
Of sideways glances to court the dance
Of eyelash flirtatiously fluttered
A peek of ankle to stir the passion
Of the brief touch of skin against skin
Of carriage doors held in style
Of expressions concealed behind
Protective feathers

Take me there …..

Fine wine, your line of perfection, profile absorbed
Within the printed page, taking you away
I want to say “Stop and listen”, the minutes ticking away
To nothingness, we won’t replace, they are lost

Fine wine, spilled onto the page, blood red; it disgorges
Its ruby glow, seeping into page after page
You leap to save the page, now wet and unreadable
Looking annoyed in the process, what a pity

Fine wine, these minutes are ones to remember with irritation
Cursing the red stain instead of the intrusion as welcome to
The monotony of the dirge, Groundhog Day of stale breath
A profound chapter not worth reading; close the book on it all!!

Fine wine, legacy of a long held sameness, dawdling the
Hedgerows, cutting the quality of what could be into what isn’t
And so on and so forth, dragging feet and knuckles; skin
Peeling its life away scuffed and failing, our souls drowned

Fine wine, secretly savage, blood red, vibrant and exotic
Or bored, buried in the sand dunes, beige and baron, your bottle of plonk
Oasis a mirage, a delirium to reality, a pretence to soften the blow
Life or existence with a hint of amaretto warmth to keep afloat

The trellis of oak trees winked,
captured my soul in a spinney,
chalked whispers of free promises
breathy like a silken shawl trailing

Those wise men of old, withered
skin of bark, tall and strong, waving
their introduction. They bowed to me
in free form, in humble escapism.

Sun had stroked their warm palms,
fed them sweet sap. To my left a
stray leaf, rested amid invisibility,
caught the air train, and spiralled free.

Twizzled to the green painted rug
basking under my cotton covered feet.
Reaching out, it blew away,
I chased the freedom fields.

The brook teased it and set
sail under the woody bridge,
green from seasonal tears.
Lost sight as it spun the space

between us. The grass sprung
its beginnings in full Spring, tall in parts,
summer not yet wrapped and
ready to visit us, much less

invited to the summer ball
where shadows are ten a penny,
and sunshine bought on every
street corner.  I am among spring

devoured in daffodil eiderdowns,
elbowing out the crocus, snowdrop
chandeliers. I seagull my way,
swaying in step with willow, blossoming

surprising myself, how I let go of
school day shivers, tinkering my brain
into gear for terms talking tightness,
cramming commas, fat full stops.

A spot appeared, under normal circumstances
I wouldn't pay it mind...I almost did not but for
the tight whispers, when secrecy staggered across my path,
I couldn't keep track and quite suddenly disappearing,

I'm left standing and staring, a blank spot, like a
dark space, a hole without a filling; foot forward
I filled the space, my feet were there before I blinked,
on the other side, unsure of the journey in between,

I felt the breath of sweat tracing my back,
flooding my insides with dread of unknown origin,
worse than the eye of a tornado, shocking me.
A split in the moment, when seconds shattered into now,

drowning time to the bottom of forever; the buzzing
in my ears drilled into me, producing a spot felt, a spot now
visible, spreading somewhere within, digging its way through skin,
through muscle, bones scattered to one side and the pace

to reach tarmac was furious, would not forgive, the spot unidentifiable, remained, navigating a way through
until reaching a dead end; wanting to turn back proved
impossible, the spot had filled, red, ****** red

Scaffolded, encased in mortar
Propping up bricks of self esteem
Doubt had set in. Crumbling top
Layers absorbed....did they notice?
Felt but.....did they see it?
Who are "they"? Seemingly
Important and high ranking
Well....on a scale of 1-10 "they"
Pushed the 100 button golloped
Up all you can eat buffet.

Sit tight on your swing swaying to miss
Their broken sentences to avoid choking
In the solid efforts to snap your
Backbone, your spine tingling 'sit in'
Scares the beige from its safe spot
Red rioting around alerting the bull
Standing in the corner field, far left
Of your vantage point. Scraping hooves
Kicked up a stink large enough to have
You believing "they" hold all the cards
You trodden underfoot bilging cement
Running through your veins.

"They" didnt just see it
"They" designed, patented and claimed
The rights to "You"....

To the right of my mind
a stuttering shudder stroked
into a conjuring trick
mist and fog precluded
with eternal density

Giving way to a definite
bypass of emotion
sitting, wondering, hammering
for the solution to troubled
senses that gripped in tight fists

Gradual senseless doubts
fogged up the highway
skidded into black icy fear
the foghorn sounding its blast
Announcing its brazen load

Keep me safe in corners
despite their black features
poking at me, barricading
my tomorrow with segmented
troubles, woven in pin pricking motion

Grinding statues were still
age transforming their limbs
into crumbling confinement
I struck out and rallied
them, together we circled

Transforming our once isolated
innards into sharing heart
shaped sentences
heard by those who chose to hear
and found droplets of hope

Gauging the time on my ever ready
Timepiece, I would be vacant without it
Guessing the minutes that miss out
As the second hand moves smoothly
Locking onto with its demonstration powers
How to mark time successfully, second by
Second, a prelude to the minute minder
Merging in with the big guns, the 'On
The hour Brigade' of salutes and silences
Schedules and deadlines.  
The.....gong
           The chime
                  The clang
                         The beep
The moment to be woken from our sleep
It's a curse at 'times' (excuse the pun)
The engagements starting point and
Finale.  I wonder what time it is right now?  
Would we lose ourselves scurrying to find
Our 'timepiece'.  Do we pick up our redundancy
In favour of technological time and motion?
Even though the 'Wonder World' has not dreamt of....
And cannot conceivably equate.....powerful potent
Possibilities of fake time in an unknown spatial
Rhombus, conspiring recklessly to promote individual
Unreality; time spinning out the hour, through
The minutes, towards the last seconds.....
                                                             of our unreal lives

You came to me, sat facing me
Not knowing one another
Trust hovering waiting to be earned
Stem straight backed with suppleness trampled
Vulnerability would not escape
Your bud delicate, yet tightly closed

Time favoured us with consistency
Week upon week we met
Tracing the weave of your emotion
Winding through tangled threads
Tears buckled up and fastened
Your well was empty

Warmth began, seeping into us
Cushioning your jagged edges of pain
Tears pooled and slithered silently
Your lips their channel to taste
The salty trickle, identifying
The gradual thawing of your soul

It quenched your parched heart
Nourishing its wounds, opening up
To tender shoots growing, searching out
The warm back of the sun
Melting your resistance to change
Rallying you with self discovery

Fresh strands of hope poked
Into daylight asking for direction
Roots began to soak up, trusting
The food of life, reaching for air
With the breath of self acceptance
And the prize of freedom blossoming

She turned her back, walked away
Her longing visible, reaching him
Her heart splintered, fell to the ground
With each step, piece by piece
He would have gathered them to him, his longing visible
But the face of commitment stared into his heart....
He let her go

The needing envelops, drowning him to the ground
Shards of her heart graze his skin...sharp
She fights keeping her direction, never turning
The ground becomes closer, it breaks her movement
She reaches out to steady herself, the lamp light
Shining on her tears, staining her face; half lit

It cannot pierce her dark heart
The light only to deliver the wound
Her path of pain reaches her and ….steadied
She touches sorrow, cannot bear this ache and turns
He has already seen her, moving, reaching, entwining
They are locked in their love in this moment
To last their lifetime

I’ll call you tomorrow,
Although you look different and,
I am uncertain
I put it off, why?...unknown to me.
My lonely skin covers me, it feels
Thin and ill fitting
Do you see I am different?
It is not intentional, it is unwise,
What can I do?
I’ll call you tomorrow,
Although you know i may not,
Probably will let it pass another day.
I know you miss me but, I am held back,
What is it?
I lay awake thinking
I’ll call you tomorrow,
I know it is vital.
Before too long I will be unable,
No choice, decision made for me.
Yet, somehow, it deceives me, in ways
I cannot grasp.
The phone stares and beckons,
You ask for little,
I give less, cannot commit.
I have no depth to give,
My page is empty.
I will try to look in your direction.
Compose a new song for us – fresh words.
I’ll call you tomorrow.
You are on my mind right now,
It is late,
I hope not too late.
I’ll call you,
Tomorrow......

It was startling - this pessimistic world,
I opened the window, a storm raged,
attic whipped windy cobwebs,
scurrying spiders slid under debris,
and cracks appeared in her flesh,
where red oozed, yelling its escape,
collar bone protruding, thin layers fading,
wine trickled from blue corners,
knuckles scraped. I heard their drag,
whilst fibres caught up in nails,
burrowing beneath red lacquer,
snagging....scraping their terminus

Looking... looking away
Away to connect with disconnect
Disconnect, pulling apart palms
Palms smooth as dried leaves
Leaves that crumbled in hands
Hands rough as a smooth iron
Iron as strong as our weakness
Weakness shutting us down
Down into the farthest reach
Reach, fast current slowing
Slowing the depth charge
Charge me what you will
Will or will not look, looking
Looking.... looking away

My eyes formed steps that followed and fled
round the bend of failed yesterdays,
stuck in the gullet of unswallowed breath

I could not read painful pages, I turned them
over, leafing my way through misguidance,
judgement had borrowed me for may years

Guilt spun grey thread, caught hold and wrapped
manipulatively, indecisive nature grew to self destruct
the analytical marching song chose the day

Sleep shades the burning sun from breaking
flesh, seeks out to rebuild the view from my eyes
the curtains drawn held me in shadowy shawls

where rest found energy to stand in line for
tomorrows envelopes to drop on the mat before
me, would I dare to open, release the sealed contents

The secrets held in calm times, released in raged rage
hurled with force, reclaiming head of the table, yet....
never to be spoken aloud...... for fear attaches itself

I trained my gaze to turn a blind eye
To the incessant strobing wheedling away

Weeping willow tears, burrowing footsteps
Needling the swell of pure panic

When you said to me "The anxiety's
Bad at the mo", I became heavy with

The suffocation of 'What to do'....for you
My race to the winning post to

Grab the prize. the cure of all cures
The potion that'll dilute the multiplying

Butterflies grabbing onto your
Worry beads, slung around your neck

Should you forget their existence
A never ceasing adornment lines

Your palms with moistured intensity
Slips your grip on life, where once was peace

Within the grip of unfamiliarity, pestilence
Sits in grainy aloneness gritting the grind of teeth
Breath does not penetrate much, it holds itself
Still with unconscious perfect effort. Tired eyes
Sift through video tracks clutching crossed
Out sections edited randomly, leaving fingertips
Polished perfectly familiar, yet not so, as mouths
Spit flaky sentences bowled over in turmoil

If crossing the road would the eye of difference
Change perspective, grant peace...permission to digress
Into roominess without challenge, would calling out invent
Comforting echoes to rally.  Yet.....would they shake their
Snaky grizzle....grinning vapidly, unexpected tongues sizzling
Forking their way across tight lips......slither
Their purpose across fugitive bodies and minds....crushing

Sheet music for the uninitiated.....

Tis like a foreign language inked out
Aligning the page from left to right
Spelling a noted curiosity. For those in the know
‘Get’ the inside story, know the melody it plays
Yet it shuts out and discriminates the uninitiated
It closes in and becomes a circle, a clicky cliché
A secret sect for them and not the rest
The page can be left open for the uninitiated
And its secret remains safely intact
Even as eyes are cast over its score
There’s a silence, a secret coded verse
Playing and taunting you, unashamed
To reveal its melodic soul, fully knowing your
Not invited even if you want to be

Until tis ready to.........

Unsure in thought, feelings deadened
fostered by the dark sea, the raft dithering,
words hauntingly absent, lapping up each
syllable, a sinking note, plummeting like a depth

charge, tying me down to the sea bed in unknown
shifting currents, the tide turning me over and over,
water logged and sand bagged in deep coral shifts.
I drowned a thousand letters, bit into sentences;

no one heard me. Coldness shared its chilling weight,
leaving spaces where conversation once played out,
hand crafted with laughter.  I know the embers well,
the ashes scatter, float as they dwindle and *****

It falls on deaf ears, unrequited
A love past up, spun out
But she, wrecked by one glance
From those eyes, clings to the silent
Words emanating from his lips her
Mind creates; stumbling at the pauses
Pushing reminding of untruths
Of unseen corners

He doesn’t need you, yet keeps the
Dialogue channel open, on standby
For his needs, although moved from
Your heart he still holds the key to
Unlock and release.

He doesn’t see your mouth move or
Hear those words desperately
Trying to explain
He picks your bones clean, erasing
Your dreams; the continual round of
On hold, pause and rewind, yet she
Still allows him to hold her captive in
Invisible silken thread that binds and
Gnaws

You are alone in his game and he would
Deny such talk, it does not impact his
World nor collide and jar his heart

What heart, you might say, for recently
Discovered, is captured by another
The announcement declares it so and
You are diminished; merging into the crowd
Of well wishers entangled in their applause
Snared …………….. can’t they see your pale
Complexion grazed by barbed tears.

The room becomes hazy and blurred
It’s hot and clammy in here and you
Need air; mouth opening and closing
Like a fish, gasping to quell the
Sickness of unrequited love

I hear the low rumble of force and fear,
the distance closing soon to be upon me,
reigning down to ravage the landscape,
wrenching the very life from all and sunder.
I steel myself in fading moments of calm,
connecting with my soul in brief stillness,
knowing this could be the last time
I may know myself, to feel my vulnerability,
to see and remember those I love so dear,
and those who dearly love and behold me.
I feel my heart fall at the starting post
as fear and force grip me in stark contrast,
I have little choice as the burgeoning moment
paces itself ever onward with reality stamping
in my face; vying for strength, for cowardice to
disperse and clear the path for the oncoming
wagon of battle, to free the world from this
tyrant and wash ourselves clean of war and woe.
Stale air creeps upon me, the familiar smell
of bodies gaping with wounds, of blood
spattered stains upon the earth, of tears
and sweat mingled with the raging war cry,
to see others silently yet fearfully steady themselves
before the terrifying spectacle that besets.
I know you as my enemy and must remain
in this mindset to stand me strong to do my duty,
but yet I want to shake your hand and know you
as we are the same in our order of the day,
without choice we are here to settle the score,
not between one another but for the bigger
wheel that turns with freedom as its epitaph.
We will not be defeated despite the loss of life,
even the threat of connecting with our final hours.
I shriek the battle call and find myself running
toward the firing line, caught up in the melee
of deathly combat that finds itself torn apart
amid the frenzy of body upon body,
that cannot allow boundaries their space,
the message and focus to slay the foe.
I strike out with physical force into flesh
that tears apart with ease of human vulnerability,
then feel a force within that flails me to the ground,
my mind and body hitting the dirt and filth,
face sinking, forced into the mixture of ****** mud.
I wonder, is this my final moment absorbed into darkness,
becoming unaware of the continued chapter around me,
knowing not if I will survive or be at deaths door.
My duty is done and those around wear the poppy
of remembrance, of courage and ultimate sacrifice,
allowing their freedom to be continued and realised,
and I wear the medal of honour but reap the scars,
to live another day that will never dawn the same,
passing those that do not know my wounds that persist.
Nonetheless I am lucky, given the chance to live my life,
to feel the embrace, skin upon skin of those I love.

On a bogus hill, a man stood
in self defence and shot himself,
clean through the heart of the white
flag that hung breezily around his
neck, like a neckerchief in situ

A calm reverence, self awareness,
had positioned itself, 'enough' shone
in the deaf hours before daylight begs,
dislodging sad meanings from
ungrateful dictionaries.

You bought words, they lead you,  
rocked a changed lullaby....au revoir,
checking the white flag of departure,
arrival of metal, red bled wounds,
flag swaying, stained under surrender

Snowcles....falling calling card, resting, upturned faces
Snowcles....falling like pendant droplets
Seeking kind eyes

Icicles.....frozen, swift like daggers
Icicles.....frozen chapters, white pages
Enlisting kind eyes

Frostles....biting frosty jack back
Frostles....emulsioning natures walls
Reflecting in kind eyes

                                                          D­rowning in deep pupil pools
Of blue hues, winking white lights
                                                          Snow blizzards cooking on iceowaves
Drifting, selling off last years frozen season
                        
Storming snow whips frosty fragments airborne
Peppering the night sky with finely tuned
Layers lacing, flitting and fitting superbly.....
                                                   ­             giving birth to a white out

Well, my fault, your fault, their fault, his fault, her fault
The fault line runs through us all
Rubbing off here and there, shattering the unshattered
Creating curved corners, wobbly lines, pointing toward
Leaning posts for us to ponder, procrastinate...
Perhaps cocking a leg to listen and learn
Or be bullied down the chorus of blame
Well....if they hadn't done that....
Or if I'd just said or done that.....
Would things have been different?
The edges neat and tidy...
To see what's coming round all the corners
The unshattered, negating seven years bad luck
So keep the straight and narrow
Refuse to open the boxes and look into the unlooked
'Control' will be your friend, sticking rigidly by you side
But what about the alt...alternative...the delete....acceptance???
Will your blindfold mar your pathway to living
Missing the signpost at the fork in the road.....

Slipping through the willow curtain
Easing among the leafy overhang
Green sheltering cloak that sways
With an invitation to be my guest

I pass through, broaden my peripheral vision
Turn my cheek and my eyes lock
Pulled toward fierce or friendly
Mottled door, camouflaged grey as a stone

I swivel to listen before leather soles
Respond and move me without guard
I feel fear, uncertain to obey my instinct
Ruining the scene for the ticket holder

The choice it seems is taken from me
Though temporal, the entrance hides...it is coy
The gatehouse of resistance clangs
Its repertoire stumbles but my vision

Knows its route....the pathway falls away
And unwillingness encircles me like a bear hug
I cannot turn or go back, the door makes way
To tumbling steps gaining their advantage

Driven pathway recedes and I stalk the
Shadowy shapes that spill out to paralyse
Locking me to the wall
Solid and comforting yet stalling

The dreaded moment of choice
Invites its gangsters to dine with me
The here and now overwhelming
Its clues forlorn and disadvantaged

Rounding the dark corner of courage
I strengthen my resolve, and
Claim the light I so desire
It throws open a vivid saffron

Vibrant colour penetrates, seeping into me
I wade through this maze of superb
Splendour and I am feathered to the ground.
Book in hand … I gaze toward the.....
                                                           Willow Curtain

Miles and miles of....
Space, stretched mouths, lips
Drawn apart, gums claiming their
Contents and the......
Famous uvula left dangling there

Tonsil twins, the septic sisters
Wore white adornments today
Salt stained specs sitting spitefully
Chastising for last night's overdose

Remarking about being off colour
Tombs stones stained on plaque
Patrol alert, tongue wearing a
Its stale white winter coat

Colour palette was off white today
With blue garland furnishings
Strategically placed under the
Black veil of last night's mascara

Nostrils dragged their contents
Into the daylight, sizing up and
Producing a contest for the
Incumbent tissue trail that slowly

Gave the receptacle in the corner
A purpose for the day...to see how
Sturdy it claimed to be before it
Regurgitated....spluttering and coughing

Stagecoach trundled, rutting, wheels
Soily grasp, grabbing at the earthy recipe
Cart....horsing around the outdoorsiness
Ferris wheel spun, gathering passengers
To overlook the show ground, smattered
Four legged races, saddled with encumbents
Bobbing in display formation.  Far above
I caught sight of circular ribbons emblazoned
Lapels holding onto prize winners, suffering
The pin ***** jabbing at willing winners
Left foot first, hopscotch to the flap of tarpaulin
Billowing their precious overgrown greatness
Of perfect vegetalia, proud, excessive....of the
Dinner plate variety.  Don't touch their polished
Surface, they deliberately await photographic
Validation; future growers, challenging champion
Chompers, terrorising super-veggie heros
I wonder what becomes of former ground growers
Do they take a back stage bow? Uprooted with
Those of a lesser kind, jostling for saucepan space

When we left, the anger was courageous
Tears shrugged off their ducts and ran a river  
And so....it was an adopted day. Lopsided
Out of kilter, hard boiled, the reflux swallowed

Spite spat out its tabloid journal and spanked me
A chancer on a long haul flight of emotion. A broken limb
A ball of 'Nastiness' bit into my flesh. Stamping dishonesty
A clear winter blue sky......guarding its frosty secret

The guns shot their bullets, cracking the air between us
Hitting the eye of the bull.  The red rag waved at a tangent
Calling in all favours.  Bystanders gorged.  Rubber necked
As your heart parted company with your soul and bounced

When you undid the latch, the safety catch broke and hit the floor
Purged. Vented. Filling the air with blemishes. The stars fell
Short of their place in the universe; befriended and hung out
With blackened bark as debris hit. Now minus will only equal minus
                                                           ­                                                              .......equal minus

It seemed the space between us became torn and
Profoundly distanced....................

Jamming bony knuckles and spread eagled fingers,
Lying their mapped out journey.....direction on point patrol....
Adorned by silver decoration, delighting in their skinned habitat
Shafted, deceit punching the recipient of the poison digits
Prodding and pushing their intent....dare you contradict
The intended carved out dose of punishment, Risk and
Safety......not yours and never would be; stooped
Down under the assailing bony palmed attachements
That delivered penetrating power, cupped around
Your arm til it became discoloured, pressure points
Backed you into a corner, up against the grain of the
Brick wall, cold and damp, the odour reaching
And scolding your nostrils with its stale internal vows
Refuse, stretching and protruding its foul remnents
An earlier life, when you were not under threat fades
Your very existance in jeopardy, your eyes pleaded for
Normality, willing someone to hear your silence, grip you
Tightly, not with malice, but with bravery and valour
Right now you need that shining knight, that white
Horse galloping down the blind alleyway, yet you
Know that won't happen for you're already sinking
To the floor, the blow comes sharp and stings, warmth
Exudes and trickles a path downwards, leaving your
Body, finding the cold concrete beneath you, travelling
Outwards................

Infectious wounded words, gargled grief,
ring leaders in foul filled filth,
door opening to the left of the blackened
wallpaper, stooping from its support

Floor, a waterlogged mess of yellowed
****, stabbing stink, suffocating, like flayed
corpses, acidity burning in the back alleys
of wounded worn out hearts on sick leave

Cowering in crumbled crevices, filmy outlines
of themselves, insides outgrown fulfillment,
faded, grasped their gasp and sold it,
folded into walls....gross with age

I would have cried but, energyless, I'd fallen
out of my body long ago, beat the light from
my eyes, layed down in yellowed tears of ****
alongside the ratted out corridors of squalor

It was your image in 'that' photo,
You.  I was blemished with shock
I knew You were ravaged,
Yet not like this.

My eyes met with 'that' photo...
I saw You.
Bones blistering your skin
Thin and parched like
The peel of an apple
Past its public life.

You, like this, was hard to take
And I looked away - 'For pity's sake'.
Have you found a bolt hole...a place to rest?
No longer fragile flesh and bone

But generous heart....sewn back together

You know that bloke who's been
Around for years, the one everybody
Sees....no one knows
The one we've all past by forever

We strolled with complacent familiarity
Couldn't tell you his name, infact nothing
About his life, loves, home, work....
Assumption that he's down and totally
Out....done for could be imminent
For all anyone cares.

Oh yes it's him again.

Oh haven't seen him for a while

Someone said....."He's still around somewhere"

Someone else said "Didn't you know he used
To be someone?"

Wasn't he always someone....?

Did you know he died?

Well actually....no
                                 did anyone?

keep me
                  safe


on the landing of your
                                                      heart    
          

leave the light on to show the
                                                                           way

Plunging under where the fracture invites
Swallowed whole
Encased in a transparent cocoon
Your.....exit under wraps

Clawing at the iced ceiling
Fighting for warmth and air
Your …..breath cutting off and closing down

The light seen
The doorway barred
And time is pulling at strings on
Your.…life under threat

Will there be more seconds in this minute for
Your….escape to take part, dodging
Your….near on silence.          

              …………………………………

Stark strands of hair float, veiling
Your….pale face
And you are motionless in white sheets of acceptance