The only way to know
Is to learn
What it is not

The only way to know
Is to learn
What it is not

Wake to fresh reality
Ponder all those versions
Gone before me
Originals ever replaced
With tributes and re-makes
Grasp hold of sanity
With both hands
Light falls downwards
Darkness rises
Spirit steady as horizon
Bare feet connect to
Fine grain of ancient history
One day to become
Till then an observer
Of the lives of almost friends and lovers
Small town blues and golds
Pottering around heritage homes, theatres and dining rooms
Chewing on latest news
Overlooking chaotic streets
Mimicking incessant heart beats
Growing ever faster
At the sight of long lost love

I cannot be a life buoy
But show you how to swim
When to float on Spring tide
To catch the next wave in
I'll make quick work of sunrise
Point you to due East
By night you'll sail across the stars
The farthest lands to greet
The undersea mere curiosity
Of shadows lurking, cold
Shudder off the thought of it
Just keep your head afloat

Ever since that time
You flew away
Across the strait
For poignant day
My heart sank
Never again would I allow
My heart to be
Shipwrecked
Without a life-raft
We exist in a temporal way
In some parallel galaxy
Where our minds float
Willingly among dreams
Not our bodies
A kaleidescope of loves
Exist within one bond
How to split affection
Across the diaspora?
One token affection
Placed in a box
Pride of mantle
To deliver new year
Gathering dust

We all cried out
With our spiral perms
Bouncing in disco blue light
How I know?..
Walking longing on leash
Through swathes of native grassland
Hoping against all hope
To find a glimmer of flower
More delicious than weed
Rolling in bed with heartburn
Late into night and early morn
Standing in the kitchen alone with thoughts
Salvaging burnt toast again
.. if this is really love
Listening to songs of mourn
Tributes to ache across eons
On repeat
Wonder where the strength
Is found within
As time goes on
Their pulse overtakes mine
Face more alluring
Lines soften and fade
Walls fall
Clothes line the floor
No turning around
Or so I've found

Beauty of holding
Breath expelled
Quick succession
Balloon fills its girth
Hearts beat like hooves
On cup day
Tension mounts
Truth like a pin prick
Bursts as flaccid pieces
Fall gently at four feet
Questions at ease
Posed so handsomely
Hold hands and jump
Into a sea of soliloquy
Knowing who one wants to be
Wayfaring strangers are we

I could be your one and only
Strength for the mission
Cure for the lonely
I would find treasured tales
Buried in our morning tide
One day these pages will open up
Labyrinthine stairwell
Overseen by rock cathedral
Passing strangers alight its halls
Will you dance with them till midnight?
Or lie with them till noon?
Breaths measured by the waves lapping
Under gentle moon
I too, long to relish life
For years of back breaking toil
Nigh on broke my spirit
So bond with me, lover, friend
Though plea not to be loyal to all others
Forsooth, my heart's not in it.

Lighter than a coin
Tickle my fingertip
If it were to alight
Upon my point
Drifting aimless
Blustery winds
Tumultuous, feral
Wearing nothing but scales
Aching, tender
Shedding colour
Under weight of shelter
Another's touch
Fleeting, painfully shy
Obscuring its beauty
Soon as footsteps pass by
My heart, the butterfly.

A sense no one can live without
Yet barely speak its name
Some spurn the thought and shrink within
Though chase it all the same
A slippery notion thrives among
The family gathered round
As babes all supple on its milk
As grown, some never found
As fickle as the Autumn sun
Like lucid alpine tarn
Its sweaty pounding heart drawns in
Only to cool you down
Extremes of sentiment poures out
Yet ambivalence within
Shouts of joy, tears in vain
Rally cry and sing
There's really no escaping it
(The hermit never tells)
Longing pulls us back in time
'Fore fears can knock us down
If unsure, simply pour
More courage in your glass
Take your eyes off the book
Don't let their next glance pass

How to play the long game
With someone well versed
In flash fiction?
Do I promise to love their every lover?
Desire drives the narrative on.
How to salvage a life come undone?
When moving parts are irreplacably human
Healing work is painful and long
Until two bodies borrow, become one.
