I wish I knew you then

When your hope was without end
Your smile could light the sky
Your love never ran dry

I wish I knew you when
Passion put your thoughts to pen
Ink ran free, exploring edges
Of wilderness ne'er seen

I'd dream to hold the hand
This wishful young woman
Full of wisdom and insight
Not anticipating ache

Even more than this
I long to hold the kiss
And the gaze that beheld
A life lived wild and free

Yes, more than any thing
A sunny coast retreat
A quick retirement
Just me and the breeze

Yes, more than this
I just wish I knew you now

Panic at the cinema

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
Street art South Hobart

Mantra rays

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
Quiet Corner, Bruny Island Tasmania

Sinking feeling

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
Sunrise over Derwent River

How do I know?

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

Burst

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

Flight of the butterfly

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.
Penguin Island from Bruny  Tasmania

A slippery notion

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
The Gardens, Bay of Fires Tasmania

Long game

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.
The Gardens, Bay of Fires, Tasmania.