He was just completing the drying up after tea when he heard a murmuring from the hallway. The sound of the voice made him listen over the chatter of the early evening radio. One of the girls read a story, a bedtime story. He listened. It was about two bears, part of the usual get ready for bed routine; pyjamas, supper, teeth, bed, story, prayers, nighty-night.

He went to the bottom step on the stairs. They were on the third page now. Mum sat on the stairs, knees up, hands under chin, elbows in lap. She smiled down at Dad while their fifteen year old daughter read, her voice became more animated as the story progressed.

They both listened to the end and made play by pretending to have fallen asleep. He was now sitting beside his wife as the story ended. It was now their other daughters turn to read one of her favourites. About a Tiger.

It had been a long time. A long time since those books were opened, a long time since they we're read aloud and that reading aloud unlocked memories, a warm sense of routine, familiarity and the safeness it brought at the end of a long day when everyone was ready to rest.

This was also a new time now. Their girls reading their old bedtime stories. It felt to him like an echo of that past, yet another stage had been reached; they were growing up too fast.

This happy land of Diemens, dogs and bush-walks,
Creative flurries, chats over beer, spag bol and chocolate.
Van trip, scoot down the coast,
Wander along the beach.

Talk of this and that, laugh
And put the world to rights.
Thrash out ideas, share some thoughts,
Wonder if living could be easier?

Two friends who shared a trip to the Beach twenty years back take stock;

And find that from start they had more in common than they knew.
Now seperated by ten thousand miles, A thousand quid and two days flying,
They're closer than they were
sat facing front in that old escort van.

Another chapter ends
Or begins
Or begins and ends.

I awake and think of boarding,
My plane.
I hadn't realised how simple it was
To just be,
To just exist side by side
With an old friend who you connect with.

No need for the usual preambles
Just straight to the core.
Don't waste time, because 20 years fit badly into five days.
And What happens if you click cancel....

before the download has finished?

I'm so reluctant to leave.
These days have been so easy and fun and blessed.
Brotherhood is hard to find
And when will I return?

A red light shines through my window
And appears on the wall across the room.
It blinks yellow and moves as the people opposite
Reverse from their drive
And head off to work.

The daylight outside is growing,
The rumble in the air is not traffic
But waves breaking on the shore
About fifty meters away.

Soon I'll get up, make tea
And we'll all go for a walk.
Me, my frind Toby, Pablo the happy staffie
And Ava the lucky foster dog,
Wandering care free along the beach
as the waves break around our feet.

A plane flies overhead. *******.
Okay I know!
All things come to an end.
And this too shall pass.
It's just I haven't often wanted to stay this much.
It's so fun here,
And life outside can be a bit full on.

Upon a magic afternoon
I met you in the fall
together finding haven
else oblivious to all

I birthdays hold in high regard
you held yours in disdain
first yours then mine crept past us
pointing out the years between

Companionship was natural
but separation hard
I knowing what I know today
those years would disregard

For you, who waited, drew last breath
'Till spring shall come no more
dwell in this haven of my heart
eternity and more

nails on your back
my head to the wall
i've written a happy ending after all
wishful thinking
becomes a thing of past
i am nothing without you
a toast with broken glass

turn the page if you will
here i'll be, standing still
whatever we erase
is always replaced
by something better
something real

i give you my life
i ask you to keep it
i gave you my heart
i'll admit it has weakened
but that's due to the fact
my love for you has deepened

hold me forever and beyond
i don't care who we hurt
i'll watch the world shatter to hell
before i let you bleed first
romance isn't it
it's a life; a chaos of our own
light the candle to our goblet of dreams
sit next to me on our throne
being apart i just can't condone

if not with you,
i'd rather die alone

you're the perfect novel;
a story on your own and then
i could write pages and pages about your smile
your voice in itself is the greatest poem;
your mind is the pen

not a fairytale, because those are fake
you are here in the now;
your skin i can taste

wrap me in your forever
your world is my home

for if not with you,
i'd much rather die alone.

every time he touched me
i felt him memorizing me like a wreck
every time she touched me
i felt her heartbeat caught in my own neck

they are problem solvers.
i had cushioning companions
fuller and calmer than me.
perhaps someday i'll tell them this
if i ever learn to handle it:
the open, raw closeness.

In the meantime, i'll remember her
laughing into my legs
immersing us in the soft hair from her head
and his enchanting voice
inflating my lungs;
the simple gift of speech in bed

the moment right before their contact,
a few light-years away from being.
the moment between shine and its reflection,
just a hollow eternity to all the space in between.

company?
I starve for the long moments
that thick time of silence together
feasting on whatever he just said.
community?
I crave gazing at an orb of truth
wholly understanding one another
a vague sense of being like her family.
civility?
honoring the ghosts of our realities
and remaining gravely touched
by the mortal ritual at hand.

I couldn't deserve either of you
just promise me you'll understand
or at least try to
get the ******* my land

I never expected you to treat me like an obligation
But I also never expected you to treat me like the most amazing woman on earth one day
and then like the most needy, annoying human being the next.
I notice I've become an inconvenience.
I'm sorry kissing me no longer brings you any joy.
I'm sorry that our intimate moments are no longer significant.
I'm sorry that, even after promising me you weren't like the rest,
you ****** me

And you left.

Yesterday
Hello Poetry was down
That made me have a little frown

I had planned a poem in my head
And thought about it more before going to bed

It's called "The Crying Time"
Yesterday about 45 min before 3
This was not a good time for me

That used to be about the time
When I felt so fine

She used to listen to my poems
I her welcoming office, I met her there

She means so much to me
But our relationship and those times have ceased to be

So on Fridays a bit before three
Will the loving women of hello poetry think of me?

Send your love and warm feelings to
I send my love back to you

I wish I had a loving woman to say "there there"
To pat my back with great care

We don't know where we are going to land
Whose arms we find ourselves in
When the fuse finishes with a puff of smoke
It's not over.
This is the best part of it
Whose arms we find ourselves in.
Brace for impact
Be ready
Catch the broken pieces we can't hold together

Strolling in these crowded streets
Wandering through memories
The tune of love within
Subdues all those without

Angst filled void around
Unmindful pain – baffling and novel
See that familiar face around – no surprise
People are but objects reflecting the mind

Unbeknownst – love struck me
And now I am clearly unsure
What joy, what pain – what more?
They say its fatal – but its poetry obscure.

The emotional dissonance – is that right?
A void that is tediously strong
How do I speak my mind – confess the love
I fear end would win me over, before long.

Gap – the gap – this gap between…
Would cocoon worlds' entirety
The gap between the lips, longer still
If sealed, once sealed – chime unity

I could sing ballads of love
But I am a lifetime shy to be a poet
I speak my plight in vain hope
Of being one – with you, just for a moment

Virtues will be restored
And boons have been bestowed
If the night unfolds with you beside me,
- My man of gold