When I have written too much, A brown dog runs a circle around me: Her smile eats the world, Smacks her lips — delicious! I will roll and drink the wind and bite the trees and dream of chasing birds (and then chase them alive! what a life when escapist dreams are both memory and [...]
A near empty pen gasps to carve its final words with few precious drops. Penultimatum: trickling and desperate to serve, Squeezing what blood it can before the final, broken, sketchy inkline that traces the decline, the arc, the fall, the bin.
When I stopped kicking, I sank. Everyone gasped in horror, paused, shook heads, did not stand, exchanged opinions and moved on. Everyone saw me submerge I sank. I reached the sand. The sunlight pleated by the ripples Glows a different colour here. The sounds are swells and distant rushes, Heavy and careful forces, smooth and [...]
There is a block; I must not enjoy; There is a foulness to the privilege. I must deprive; at best endure; And not allow pleasure’s passage. Hampered as I am by this, I’m sure There must be a way around its cast-iron block: I will tunnel — or sidle — or skim over — It [...]
When the rain came, we were driving slow. We wove around the amber glows; traffic lights; hazard lights; blinker lights; rows and rows of amber glows; (the nurse snipped the wristband off with blunt amber-handled scissors and the colour was so appropos) bike reflectors; the road’s cats’ eyes; slower; slow; “take it easy, when you [...]
The quick brown fox and the lazy dog Curled up on the sofabed with me. We all agreed, in this breezy day, That cushions were all we’d need. The quick brown fox’s fulsome tail, Wove around us and made us snug and sneezy The lazy dog turned his belly up. And whimpered vaguely in entreaty [...]
Dad’s recommendation was to eat more honey, “It’s a simple sugar; not a complex one, So it’s easy to digest.” My grandmother standing in the kitchen, Trickling: Stretching strings against suburban sunlight And letting the transformed nectar Glow and dissolve into toasted bread; Staff of life and sunlight strands pause the morning glow and dissolve. [...]
Why erase and why not scrawl what are you frightened of? That a future reader will not be deceived? Will doubt you a polished scribbler, whose poems erupt, fully-formed, Athena-like from your labour-lustred brow? If this book in which you feverishly decode the impulses that lead you to rhyme should be found, Should be unearthed, [...]
The art of doing (and just being) one thing at a time is part of my education sadly lost; When I try to recoup it now I struggle with the singleness: And wonder why the effort feels like cost. For to mark a day’s success has meant So many boxes checked, Until they pile up [...]
An otherwise empty shopping bag, with two loose eggs rolling around in it on the kitchen tiles. Among the dusts and coffee grounds, (I spilled them trying to wake up,) It is strangely peaceful. I am hollow, and (for now) forget, but there’s the chance of something later: when I come back, and remember where [...]
