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

She left me Like the last leaf On a dormant tree Plucked off by A randy wind Whose promises Blew away Just as easily She left behind Random hairs A favoured lipstick And a faint scent Framed memories Of her and I Wrapped in vestiges Of finicky love A phone call Late in the evening On a distorted line She chats idly I wait for her To ask for help But she can’t So she hangs up The wind blows She’s at my door Crying shallow tears But she knows I will let her i...

Who says the end is always justified Sometimes the means are average And the ends are frayed Whether or not the knot is undone Can all that is made be unmade And what of the journey to the finish Is it the fall or the landing Regardless of the height If it all works out after struggling to rise Then isn’t it worth the fight Who says the way to live is fraught With disappointment and dangers That worsen each passing year Isn’t it better to keep moving forward Stand tall and ...

If there was any doubt You had tied it up Into a neat bundle And locked it away To gather dust And incriminations To rot and wither Until you could safely explain it As another unrequited sickness Of the heart Life is made of doubt Avarice, envy and lust As well as happiness Peace, joy and pleasure Hiding the negatives Won’t improve Any of the positives Better to let the skeletons out To dance and eventually tire And save your heart

I remember when we first met You said I stank while I thought I smelt good For a boy who’d be playing all day In the sun with a ball and a stick And a small dog with a big bark You were sitting in the shade of a paperbark Tearing strips from the tree Which you were rolling into tubes And binding with string made from grass You said they were Egyptian parchments You were in the company of a porcelain doll And a rather grumpy-looking teddy bear The doll you called Nefertiti The...

I’m not sure I would ever be As challenged by life if I was always happy Shadows hide pearls Shade hides fruit Sometimes the best ideas Come from the most tragic of events But there is this black dog I sometimes walk Who occasionally wags its tail in spite Then defiantly pisses On any good intentions Or barks at the door of sanity Until I can’t stand to hear anything else I want to put my head down Leave all the bright thoughts for others And dwell in this malaise This bo...

Yesterday it was simply A busy footpath Over which passed hopes Dreams and both kinds of love (Requited and unrequited) Today it is the scene Of a ‘tragic accident’ Where a ‘young life’ Was ‘brutally cut short’ (As though old lives can’t be) A Rorschach stain Marks the location Where it will slowly fade With each passing footstep (And yesterday’s news) Life is life regardless All with one commonality The surety it will end Either with a bang or whimper (But never like...

She hides her pretty eyes Beneath a mask of mascara And indifference Her face is a brood Of sullen glances Stolen from silent screen actresses Dead long before she Was even conceived She says she's not sad Just concerned For a world that is going to shit A world where achievement means nothing And celebrity is everything She says she has no one To look up to No positive role models except Emo rock stars Not much older than she She says no one has any idea How hard it is...

I remember You, pale in the light Dust motes flying As you flung yourself at me Like I’m the last living man It was only then I realised I was dead Inside and out Before I met you I remember Standing in your doorway Barely able to breath Your arms crushing me But I didn’t want you To ever let go All the while You’re repeating Like a mantra Thank you, Thank you, Thank you When it was I Who should have been giving thanks I remember Your tear-wet face Pres...

In the back lot Behind an old grease factory A hulking metal shell of a car Is trying its hardest to return To the earth from where it once came Rust flowers on its doors Have blossomed and climbed Up its pillars and onto the roof Blooming brilliant red and orange in the sun Sills have fallen through Leaving rusted holes to be filled By the flowers of weeds Prettier than any flowers money could buy Rainbows of refracted light Resting on the faded, torn seats Cast by ...

I wrote the following about 6 months ago but I've been sitting on it, adjusting it slightly, dusting off every now and then before putting it away again. I'm still not sure about it. It is very niave, but how I feel, in a lot of respects, about the birth of Christianity. I think the best I can call it my extremely limited, niave study of the hypocrisy of organised relgiions. They captured the speakers of the Word Had them flagellated Without any consideration Not discussed nor deba...

The tools for escape are many But we require only a few A beautiful day, each other’s company A pleasant repast and a bottle or two There's no need for scratching holes in walls Or tunnel-digging required We won’t have to hide in dirty laundry Or climb fences electrified and barb-wired Our sentence is to laugh and sing And hope the good weather will hold Hope the flies won’t bother us too much Hope the ice will keep our beers frosty cold For what sort of escape would it...

The evidence was damning There was nothing I could say To deny the existence Of the terrible deceit I’d hidden I tucked it in the pages Of some forgotten book on a shelf In the library of my mind I wanted to leave it all behind I wanted to get on with what I’d started But the ‘f’ fell out and revealed The lie supporting everything I’d so carefully concealed Until, like all buildings Built on weak foundations Very soon cracks appeared In the walls around our relationship...

You say you want to drive I ask where you want to go You say you’re looking for a break You grip the wheel tight You say it makes you feel safe But sometimes you just got to let go You are too easily distracted And I am too easily startled To be a good navigator So we circle the roundabout Losing our exit time after time Is it our fate to be lost in traffic? You ignore the rear-view Don’t want to see the damage Left in the wake of no indication To be on the safe s...

I wrote this poem in response to a recent conversation I had with a couple of friends. Actually, the conversation isn't so recent, thinking about it. But it has been replaying in my head ever since I had it. It is becoming increasingly more difficult in this world to simply be a good man. Most people are suspicious and wonder what ulterior motive one might have. How quickly we have forgotten it is good people who helped shape the world we live in. How quickly we have forgotten how to be...