Autobiography

abacus

Rows of days drift like washing down the years.. hued in shades of pain or joy stringing like grey beads, revolving, hung in time on the abacus of my life, . What have i learnt?

salsa'd..

Memory of you,dancing. flag in a stiff breeze; butterfly, dust mote drifting, sleet on a windowpane; your fingers told them all.. body tracing itself in rhythm; insistent, latin, precise.

phyllis

I loved your smile. wide, arcing my world safe; with a life i won't forget.. took for granted the bond we had, think I'll not find its like again in anyone.. closeness natural as breathing,

for irene, november 2001

Leaves fall, singly and in groups, whirling to lie, orange. yellow, fading to brown on the city street. You fell, singly.. whilst i was away - whirling to a hospital room where

You know who you are.

Where are you? Not here; out in the world with your hat on. your fingers are not on me, nor your words in my ear, nor your eyes, asking questions. My voice silent, but dialogue continues,

A Brave New World...

Now all the furniture was gone It looked neglected and shabby The air smelled of stale beer Cigarettes and chip fat She swallowed hard

Dare

Dare to try Dare to smile Dare to laugh Dare to do Dare to go Dare to travel Dare to say Dare to glow Dare to sit Dare to breathe Dare to rest Dare to be

You

You are everything I despise. You are everything I loathe. You are the reason why I was scrubbing myself in the shower.

Is he?

Do I love him so much that I am willing to remove myself from the life I currently occupy, or do I hate his being with another so much that I will do anything for him not to be with the other?

'Best friends'

The words used as jokes, The words at my expense, The words that cut, The words that hurt, Are the ones you throw like daggers. Someone to fuel, Someone to laugh, Someone to impress,

Driving

Foot on the gas, Thickness of a coin she says, Releasing the clutch, feeling the power, The car starts to roll away, You slam your foot on the brake, Oh my god its an earthquake,

My First Poem

What do you feel, You put pen to paper and the rest just flows, Findin the insperation, What next... Who knows, A masterpiece or maybe just fun,

Broken Wings.

How can I fly With these two broken wings I’m a poor wounded bird who just sits here and sings With the leaves close around me The world far below

A&E

Tightly you hold me in your grasp. Airless breaths, gasps... of survival, rush to my aid through blind panic. I falter, for one second... Incapable of movement or thought.
Cherry

Marina

Poland c1941

Orpheus

It's not to leave, but to return That matters to this fallen plume. I took an echo from an urn Of empty pride to be a tune Of peace and words of friendship, and I followed it into the bottom

One Kiss

He's biting at my back again Drilling on my mind again And you wonder why my hand feels dead You wonder why I'm choosing this He never calls or texts me now He would just hate to interfere

Hands

The hands that had brown spots on, The hands with veins that resist my touch, The hands with the mole at the base of the thumb, All held me when I needed them.

You Never Forget Your First Time

The first time is always the best...

For F..

Looking at you my eyes opened & I saw you. You touched me my body fell into here where you are & my body wanted more. I have become more with all this wanting; i am the wanting & the more

"i drank water from your spring and let the current take me" Rumi. .

Made childlike, clumsy: the sky tilts foreboding at me, blundering blindly into the blue; and not even happy. wanting, scared to want; having, losing.... your presence rubbing me raw,

john part 2

Time grinds you fine.. your voice spiralling in and out of space to me; wheels winding us (relentless) still in parallel directions. Across the miles, your intermittent fingers stretch

stonegate, york

the rain streams, shining in grey gullies. city cobbles into wet,... tiny street darkly a-drip. Huddled in doorways, doused figures hunch tight, stained birds flapping umbrellas.

valentine, for john

You are my soul brother; my erstwhile distant lover, the ties that bind us swinging thin,& loose; old rope, strong as wire... Clumsy pupil: in all i learnt i forgot how to hold your hand.
Cherry

Inner Demons

There are … things stirring within me that I try to hide, won’t set free.
Cherry

He Begs Forgiveness

He Begs Forgiveness Someone I tore from my life like an insect from my skin left behind a sting relying on my enduring nature to bury his bullet-words in the sand

Because of what he said

Because of what he said Because of what he said I let my hate grow Nourished it with hurt Deep in my heart While outwardly I smiled Fanned the flame with displaced air
Cherry

poem

I breathed on you, mumbling meanings you didn't catch.. my life can go anywhere, i said i can make anything I'm alive, I burn.. Your thin face rustled, a twitch of chin..

Dear addiction, I will beat you.

Predict my next move non-believer. You are the epitome of evil. Master of the night, slave to the sun.

REMEMBRANCES OF SWEDEN, VERS. 2

As a young and poor man, my grandfather George Sigfred Nelson left Sweden for the U.S.A.... as a stowaway on a coal ship. Soon, he had to fight in WW2 on a minesweeper where he lost a lung.
Cherry

Grace and Favours

Meal-times were never quite the same convivial affair though, after we were rehoused in the October of nineteen-fifty-eight.
Cherry

Reunion - Prologue

Who is the mysterious stranger and what does he know about the Linwood deal?

Practice Makes Perfect

My fingers have nothing to gain from playing Except for a little practice And it's tricky when everyone is saying You could, you are good- keep at it. Yes I can write a line or two

Hidden

My mind

Today

If today were your last day...

AN ODE TO A YOUNG MOM

In a slightly barbaric American city, I walked out of a blustery day into my favorite coffeehouse where an unusual number of prosperous-looking people were quietly gathered

Don't Take This Wrong

Don’t Take This Wrong Don’t take this wrong, but I don’t know, now What I ever saw in you. You disgust, annoy, repulse me. Your name tastes like blood in my mouth.

Things Far and Near

I see things far and near. Nearest are you, just there across the table, distant in your thoughts. Farther still are the hills of changing hues that always remind me of you.

Hope

Springs eternal And the rest of the platitudes Help Sometimes

Clash

My secret love knows no bounds

Am I ready?

Uncertain times, passions abound, breaking up is never easy..

Shut up!

Should we take the plunge and go for it? Dare I?

Purgatory

Hands forever outstretched forwards, reaching for something that isn’t there. Let me tell you about my life; I am a conscious coma, living in irony.

Leaving Joe

The child swivels in the chair, oblivious to the world around him until he stops, abruptly, to notice the adult watching him from the doorway.

I'm Kinda Problematic

Please let me know what you think

Clean Slate

New year - new start ;) Another Tanka! (Haiku + couplet with seven syllables in each line.)
Cherry

Shake It, Goose!

the flirting seems to have gone from clumsy/cute to downright lawnmower aggressive. Or as one friend referred to it, the Hurricane Katrina Approach: you won’t know what hit you till it’s over.

Ward 201

Hospital visiting hours reach into the darkness of days.
Cherry

A story left untold.

They all tell me I look like her, just like her they say. She was a stunner in the day, so they tell me. She had the finest hair, the prettiest eyes, and the softest lips.

Writing With Your Eyes Closed

I'm sleepy but the night evades me, Shivering into a bed, Dozing in dances with daily discoveries, Those read, Those bled, Those unsaid. My body is achy but the blankets are loose,

Drugs Are Bad

The sun was shining in the sky And i was feeling rather High Id had a drink, and a piss

Truth

I know I need to sleep And my eyes are stinging But I don't want to stop. I deserve the singing Of my desperate thoughts The dancing, lonely Pain that ought To be suffered only

Too Little, Too Much

Rhymes and words flutter in her head Like scribbled birds that are left unfed. A Painful melody holds them in tune Twirling and turning in the gaze of the moon.

Black Bat Chocolate Bar

(note: I first published this poem four years ago toward the end of college. It was words describing a stream of memories from earliest to latest. A few days ago, I added on to it.)

...True To My Heart

It was Love beyond belief It was love all the time It was never a care that people thought it was a crime A secret, a passion a lust in life taken and turned just like a knife

I found a Sesame Seed on my Face

I found a sesame seed on my face and then I realised… Oh yes, I ate some sesame seeds before. (That explains it). I rubbed my eye. It burned. and then I realised…
Cherry

Surpass the end

Chip shop fumes reach out like flailing tendrils, Make contact and climb up my nostrils Smells etched onto clothes, the Freshness abated, as I waited for the Cycle to end.

MOBILES (poem)

...turning us all into business buskers barking at buildings...