Today

I hear shots ringing out
But they are far away
I heard people were being killed
But they were not my kin
I heard ideologies were being persecuted
But they were not my ways of thinking
I heard rights were being given up
But these were not mine
Mine were safe
As was I

I hear shots in the distance
And they are getting closer
I see people dying in the streets
Of another town
Another country
They almost look like me
Almost

Twice shy

The circus continues
Chemical and bioluminescent
Monetary foreplay counts for most
Credentials and famous last names
All glittering under the neon awesome

Floating Jackpot

Onward through
sunlit grass
shake the reptiles out
and make for the waters edge
where all will be revealed
through the delicate play of skimming birds
before she moulds granite
at your feet
Take it like a man.

Trinkets

In a perfect world,
You'd fall asleep on my shoulder
On a train,
On a tuesday afternoon
Even though you fought for the window seat.

Saline

In exile
The parched earth that offers only salt
Where rivers once
Fed and nourished all
This is home
Bleak and dry
but full of promise
That the heavens may once again open
When enough time has passed
When past regressions have been paid for twice over
For this life and the next

Garden

Maybe its now
Time that isn't yours
Freedom hard won but never tasted
Summer citrus lost to the worm within
Poured out like water on concrete
For the burning sun
For bare feet

Scales for the troubadour

Stir crazy sipped sane
Southern gothic
Penny lane
Snakeskin
Sink
Swim
Its all the same

I'm the warm jagged edge
When your spine shimmers
Carnal
When your blue blood simmers
Glow
When you fan your flame

Haiku #2

Spit venom on white
Dissolve archaic mindsets
Make your own Rorschach

Sunburst

Plug in
Play it out
Distort it
Kiss it and save it for later

Play Cold

I feel you
Leaving
Like sustain from a slow strum
Like the shifting cloud that shadows my spot of sunlight
Like the swirling river of smoke
I place at my windowsill
And watch

Shock Strut

It appears we're going crazy
They said
In one voice
Composed of bits of mine and others
Collectively,they are quite convincing
I thought
As I pretended to have no clue

Re:verse

Equal weight
For equal measure
Fingertips on flame
Or hands on water

Just a jester
Mister sequestered
Lost on the inside
Let the outside fester

Scraps for kings
Kisses for the runt
The hummingbird sings
For the rabbits that hunt

Isthmus

A beautiful waterfall at the end of the earth
To die at each night
A new hell to emerge from the next day
Breathless and gasping with cumulative naivety

If every journey has a thousand beginnings
May my hell and your waters meet
To form new land
That I may walk for the first time

Elixir

It begins somewhere
In the forgotten chambers of a quiet mind
Rebirth from the aftermath
Of decadent disobedience
The origin of a single silver seed
Mercury from manure
Dancing among decay
Like a candle in a crypt
To be kept safe and savoured
Sustenance for the slow crawl
Back from ruin

Shadowfabric

Sure footed stumble up
Cobblestone in fog
Dead slow on sacred soil
Skulls and souls sacrificed
Strewn among trident and saffron

Linger through the howls
Bask in the curiosity
Feel the eyes
In every crevice
And the rocks
For secrets

And be brave
It will be morning soon

Herbal Verbs

A decade late for the masquerade
Still softly spoken
Her words spin around
The turbulence at my crown

Gentle Gardener talk and tend
To the glimmering want weight around my head
Plant your seeds and take your time
Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme

Ethereal

All together

Afterlife

Ageless

Full of music and stories

Of our parents and theirs before

Standing together on the sands of time

Like sunflowers

Keepsake

Our candle burned out tonight
A sudden wind took its flame
Scattered it among the dried leaves at our bedpost
They crackled and parted
Coaxing it towards the open window
Into the black

Mollusc

Your hair red like streaks found on certain seashells
Like the veins around my erratic heart
Corrals me
A pitcher plant to the play of prey

Drawn in, though not drunk
Just drowning
Dancing my slow struggle
Prolonging the inevitable
With every twist and turn

For I have seen it all before and I am well inoculated
Immune from the intoxicating smell of intense colours
The comforting pressure of ever tightening tendrils
The bitter taste of sweet sin

This tomb holds no surprises for me
Just a trap door behind mirrors
From which as you take your applause
I will emerge reborn
Again

For My Heart In Clarkville

I,
A delicate balance blown out of proportion by a tipping point that was surpassed long before its fulcrum was evident.
Blurry and dilated;
Elated by scraps swept off the table of life by an overworked busboy.
Humourless, yet laughing
At yarns spun by dangerous madmen
In the dense fog of my clouded mind
Found you.

The light that shines when others speak only of darkness.
Convincing us of their contrived blindness
Arms outstretched and feeling their way through the narrow corridors of human existence
Convinced that the orange hue seen through closed eye lids was nothing but a shadow of what once was
Ruined.

They convinced me.
I closed my eyes.
I fumbled. And bled.
When jagged rocks met the palms of my searching hands.

I tuned out.
To your whispers
Telling me to awake.
To not look around,
But within.
I found you there
You never left