I have been reading a lot lately. Mostly fiction and a lot of it by Neil Gaiman. His latest short story collection, 'Fragile Things', has really inspired me. Following is one such example of this inspiration. Expect more: A HINT OF PINK Just a dash, A tease, a glance Enough for me To take a chance To ask a question To raise a smile To garner a look And make it worthwhile Just a smidgen A byte, a bit Much to much For me to resist Charms and wiles Heavy lashed eyes A c...

UNTITLED – Inspired by San Chonino’s Everyone’s Here I’m dining on memories Snacking on snippets of conversation Gobbling stolen glimpses Eating up everything I remember Of you as you were I loved the you I remember I only like who you are now You no longer give enough of yourself For me to feel a stronger emotion So I close my eyes and feed Then… I’m masticating moments Sipping on surreptitious sidelong glances Chewing on the bones we shared Licking juices of times gon...

I walk around No shoes, no shirt Mind racing hard Trying to stay alert Only one way To stop feeling down I walk around I walk around Skinny chest stuck out Limping on soles Shod only in doubt Scared to breathe Or make a sound I walk around I walk around Eyes to the sky Cracked earth closing up No longer dry Tears from my past Are soaking the ground So I walk around I walk around

INTO THE ETHER Where are my words? My considered responses, And the little pieces of wisdom I try to impart In a single glitch they’re sucked up into the ether Before I can post them Will they be like love letters long forgotten Sitting in an old shoebox At the back of a cupboard? Found after years pass? If these words appear again on my screen Will I remember them fondly Smile at hidden meanings Between the lines? Will I cringe at their naïve enthusiasm Or their humou...

NB: not sure about this one, folks, but as I'm only practicing, thought I'd put it up and see what sort of feedback you can offer. All comments gratefully taken on the chin LUST IS DUST Slowly spread Grandiose On a bed Fullest pose Under glamour Chiffon and pearl Heart a’ clamour for This plain girl Tho my mind’s eye Sees Aphrodite I can’t deny My passion’s mighty Biting down On the fisted glove A single touch Is heaven above This plain girl Is more than simple Sh...

Just a glimpse, A bite-red lip, A wisp of hair And in the shadow of a brow A glint of blue. In seconds her scent Did its work. I sucked it in, Like it was my very first breath. My only breath. Then the bus doors closed And she was gone. Great demons rent the sky, Hell’s minions crawled from the cracks In the footpath. And my world, My life, My love Ended. Only to begin again as the next angel walked by.

By day I sit in a stagnant pool of workers While management sharks circle and dive Through currents of meaningless business We sit in the scum at the bottom Waiting for morsels to float down But at night I tap into the stream The music of my soul leads me up and beyond I finally understand what power means And as I render another tune It all starts to make sense By day I walk the streets in fear Wondering if I’ll be crushed In the stampede of humanity Keen to get to where...

BLOOMS OF CHAOS He signed his name on the wall While he waited for his world to fall It didn’t happen as he’d planned Chaos lent him a bedevilled hand Turned his want into a need Changed his envy into greed It spoke of beauty inside the flower Of its blossom and its power He sowed the seed with steady hands Ignoring all external demands In time it grew wirey and strong All else he knew was now long gone Until he felt it ready to bloom So he strapped it on and faced his doom P...

It is a great distance for a single man to cover Between being alone in the world to taking a lover The intimacy required is never easily expressed Those words she longs to hear have long been suppressed He walks in circles tongue tied and lost The emotions he feels he knows come at a cost He only wants it to be simple, straightforward and easy Like in his dreams, where she is both pure and porn sleazy He is rudderless in an ocean of open displays of affection Of smells and of t...

I've decided to post the following poems. I'm not particularly happy with any of them, but they each have a certain something ... Hopefully, you, dear reader, will see what it is too. Untitled #2 If I was trapped under an avalanche If I was being thrown to the lions If I was caught in the middle of a riot I wouldn’t want to be with you If I was carrying a deadly infectious disease If I was being stalked by a serial killer If I was living in a box under a bridge I wouldn’t ...

It is obvious we weren’t meant to be When I realised I couldn’t get used to the way you smelt It wasn’t you smelt bad, like the sweaty man Who always sits next to or near me on the bus He always somehow manages to be close First thing in the morning When my sense of smell is strongest And my stomach is at its weakest I’ve tried changing where I sit to no avail How can I expect a man whose idea of personal hygiene Is to wave at the ocean as he passes by To be the sort of person who ...

You were all around me Buzzing like flies on a carcass Tickling at me like a virus A contagion with no cure As hard as I tried I could not prevent your incessant attacks Your delicious malice Now you’re under my skin I can feel your love crawling Under my shins, knuckles Forehead, scalp, arms Shoulder blades and spine It feels so delicious To scratch at it even though The itch won't go away Just move to somewhere else All I wish for now Is for my heart to capture Th...

I Wintered in the valley Of your breasts Warm, soft and comforting They were everything The shape under your dress Promised them to be Spring was in the scented petals Between your thighs Heated, honey-dipped and glowing Responsive to touch And the passionate yearnings I had once imagined The pools we spent in Summer We carved out of bed Rocking, swirling, tumbling In waves of rigid, sweaty lust Peeling our desire down Layer by layer Too soon Autumn came on No sooner...

I wrote this after last Sunday's incident a bus. I don't really believe this of my city, but I think it is true, in some respects, of every city. It seems to me the more closer we live together, the harder it is for us to live together. Underneath, there is a fluid Running through the soil and sandstone Blood dark and rich with tales Buried deep and weighed down with buildings Above, roads and footpaths, the gardens and parks Are this city’s epidermis, its thick skin Waiting for ...

I watched a bird Regard a post Like it was an alien tree As I watched A thought occurred “What would the bird think of me?” Do I even rate In the bird’s view Of the world we both survey Then the bird flew up Crapped on the post And purposefully flew away