115

I live in tall trees

Where hope wraps itself in chains

But pain loosens them

And pulls the world in focus

Until it imagines dreams

 

114

Storms can be empty

They can sit between spaces

Throwing hail outside

Coating lives with peaky hues

Strangely silent in the blue

 

113

The contagion swells

Spread by clinical refrain

Yet souls swallow the light

Of imperfection and rain

Regardless of Earthly pain

​

112

As the fire dies down

I see a wild fox stalk the ash

Until it sees morning

A glint from the night's burning

In the emptiness of day

​

111

This New York dreamscape

Is like lead around my belly

I can't move or stand

Or claw from the hollow fibres

As I masquerade in sleep

​

110

I may push my head

Into the hollow mouths of thieves

To decant humour

Where it rolls on prickled leaves

Back into the hollow trees

​

109

The brimming darkness

Hardening the present crush

Pushing the present

Until the earth breaks apart

Releasing us to a new dawn

​

108

Dromomania

A word blown in by the wind

Scuttling through the town

Catching people by the heels

And manically roaming around

​

107

You, slayer of time

Bemisting the future light

Until darkness folds

Into an abyss of dreams

Marking the coming fight

​

106

Seldom see this light

Or the seas so green and calm

A pastose melody

Painted with infinite vibe

As if a painter turned a scribe

​

105

His beatitude

Striving for vocation

For a place to land

For a place to cherish dear

When dreams have turned to sand

​

104

Under God's candle

Feverish desires cease

Yet under moonlight

There's no telling what you'll meet

Whether it be man or beast

​

103

The orbs that you grow

Those unexplained dashes of light

Cutting through the ice

Revealing your frosty heart

As if it were the burning sun

​

102

In temporal dreams

We have unbounded beauty

And unchained emotions

To better see the limits

Of all human endeavour

​

101

Perhaps we are just

Skeletal dynamism

Rounded by the flesh

Lost within the folding Earth

With one hand from the dirt

​

100

Marbleize my eyes

Until they cannot see light

Until the world is dark

But for rainbows interspersed

Between the plankton of life

 

99

The atua sleeps

Among the wild kauri trees

Shrouded by moonlight

Amid a sea of broken cleaves

A deity lost to dreams

​

98

Nymphs of the rough sea

Secret lepers of the land

Who have swam rivers

To find cities in darkness

Under pools of holy light

​

97

The dark woods echo

With deific whispering

Callings of the shrine

An embodiment of stone

Set forth by the river flow

​

96

The sun shines over

The castellar walls of virtue

Where pale faced monks sit

Among the dull artless shade

For the sins of godless men

​

95

The playa fills up

As the desert rain descends

And the molecules

Gather to form a lake

Of temporary bliss

 

94

Two legs in winter

The rest tucked away inside

And now the summer

Can shine on uncovered legs

And leave winter far behind

 

93

The sleep sick homeless

From Glasgow to London to Rome

Dunked down in cold air

Buying time in shop doorways

Hoping the night will be kind

 

92

A pearl of beauty

Here in the hollow black sky

Where space unifies

Every whisper of man

Into a wormhole full of lies

 

91

These last feathers lay

Outstretched wings sailing towards

A room without end

A light without luminescence

A Freedom from gravity

​

90

Life affirms repeat

As this shuddering juggernaut

Heads into the void

Where dreams surf the rising sea

And drowning permits repeat

 

89

In the gallant dreams

Of Tarkovsky's universe

You showed empathy

For the dark waters that seep

Into the shadows of man

 

88

To be freely drawn

We fight to break the inside

So we can fly over

All the nameless souls of grit

And break the chains of our teeth

 

87

Unfurled desire

Sadness between joy and hate

Ice between fire

We melt between the edges

And fall at the hands of fate

 

86

If stillness could beg

Then I a better beggar be

If movement could feed

Then I a banquet waiting

For a beggar better than thee

 

85

Amid the humid air

I see you carrying me

And I wonder if

You might lend me your wide eyes

So I may see the light beyond

 

84

Silence between dust

The particles swimming through

An ocean of air

Where the atmosphere looms bright

In the dim void of my mind

 

83

The edge always has

Something beyond the drop

Waiting in the dark

Ready to collect the souls

Who have fallen off the brink

 

82

Does the microscope

Take the soul of its subject

And hide it in the world

That exists beneath our own

So that no eye can see it?

 

81

You eat your pain whole

Under bowls of mouldy soup

But what of the fruit?

What of the ripe banana

That destroyed your broken dreams?

​

80

Tardiness is futile

Time will be the death of you

For nothing escapes

The military juggernauts

Who turn tardies into stew

 

79

All things unwitnessed

By ever-present eyes

Must be unhurried painters

Who have found delight

In the soles of their sleep

 

78

The intimate silence

Has to be filled by strangers

Else we'd hear the souls

Clanking around in heaven

Oiling the cogs of time

 

77

We are as flowers

Fighting against gravity

Our heads to the sun

With petals swaying

In the amber light of dusk

​

76

The midday sun rises

Into the chemical sky

Buried beneath the earth

Yesterday's sun illuminates

The seeds of tomorrow's youth

 

75

Do not shelter there

Beneath night's dusty coils

For the moon is calling

And daylight will end its reign

In a light of unknown arc

 

74

The night breeds the abyss

And open am I to that void

To crawl into space

And be closed by the weight

Of the spherical pearls within

 

73

The outside calling

Out for diminishing dreams

Then crawling back inside

To multiply the dark night

In a bed that's never seen

 

72

There are monsters there

In the wild and silent wood

Where nights are threaded

Into the fabric of dreams

And torn apart by broken seams

 

71

Words serve as my echo

The familiar called strange

The face of reason

Unmasked by simple letters

Brought home by simple words

 

70

Every curve wilts us

Every corner can blind us

Yet every note falls

And this thing called life goes on

Play, repeat, pause, rewind

 

69

Material world

How solemn you make me grow

When the hollow fibres

Desiccate my mindful words

And eradicate my soul

 

68

Emptiness is catching

It can rot you inside out

So you've got to fill it

Before the hollow takes hold

And you become an empty void

 

67

Lines of fish that swim

Beneath the dark silky waters

Find the flow of life

A spirited journey home

To the place where they were born

 

66

Melancholic woe

My legs hold back the river

Yet standing takes a toll

As the waters become fiercer

And my feet start to absorb

 

65

The borders are closing

On the dreams of man and woman

Yet still we fight on

For a place among carers

Who enforce the human spirit

 

64

What have I seen and felt

That goes beyond my beating heart?

Memories never won

Heartaches never suffered

A life vicariously lived

 

63

Sadness on mountains

The grey crown as the storm wears in

And the sky sullen

Darkens atmospheric bliss

Then the beautiful rain

 

62

The last hope for man

Is not to reach new planets

But to find empathy

For every living entity

From humans to a trapped fly

 

61

I want to escape

And live among the letters

That make up this verse

Jagged and humble - though some are

I could sleep beneath the R

 

60

As clear as sky

Not falling into dusk's hands

Just teetering the edge

Letting the dissolved darkness

Fight the particles of light

 

59

Never more true

Than was in truest form

For that the lie jailed

So that no man can hear it

And no truth sayer can know it

 

58

In a moment's fleeting

We are all that we can be

Thunderous and childlike

Like the corals that shiver

Beneath the waves of the sea

 

57

This moment of virtue

Akin to heaven's passing

Is rapt and ready

Like trees that rise to the skies

We grow to be on heaven's side

 

56

We kindred spirits meet

In the hollow void called molecule

Where all matter hides

Between science and numbers

At the shallow end

 

55

Winters seldom get

The sculptures of ice they seek

For summer melts them

Before two parallels combine

Like the opposites of time

 

54

Creatures under moon

How rare your beauty becomes

When the sun dances

And the last ripples away

To a place where echoes stay

 

53

Love resigns to hope

Many flakes that fall will melt

Yet some resign to freeze

In the heavy winters

Of my long enduring heart

 

52

There is nothing here

But a clock to tell the time

To watch the seconds go

And to feel the present move

And to watch the setting sun

 

51

Far from this window

Many treasures are often seen

Yet here behind glass

There is only poorest junk

Set around worlds of knowledge

 

50

Immortal stillness

Here lies death without disguise

The pale ocean bliss

That carries far from my eyes

Lay you not tomorrow's kiss

 

49

Oh poor envied fool

What world casts you in darkness?

And what unknown place

Plays host to your tired feet

When the day is final done?

 

48

An utterance of words

A plea for salvation heard

Never kill the birds

Or be still of nature's song

Let the dance bestill all wrong

 

47

Cautionary tales

The past unfolds wisdom's pearls

Yet we are cautious

To swallow these blessed things

But instead make the tale anew

 

46

Beauty owes no debt

Yet we a debt to beauty

In flowers grown

There is harmonic bliss

And in all things - nature's kiss

 

45

Galloping over land

Eyes saddened by human war

Sides never chosen

Only masterly loyalty

Until hoofs are broken

 

44

Milky moonlit-darkness

Thoughts tumbling down the hillside

Here is the divine

Where I escape my own mind

And rise above my thoughts

 

43

Let the gates open

Swallow your inner thoughts whole

To affect, to affect

Stir the tornadoes of winter

Inside all of our hearts

 

42

Words walking down a street

Humming tunes of yesterday

Still can be freshly served

In digestible chunks

And insatiably consumed

 

41

Autonomy lives

In the eyes of the children

Who live by design

And who give away their free minds

For the dilution of time

 

40

Vivid enlightenment

Of your amber broken dreams

The ground raised me up

To see over the tops of trees

And there a ladder to the sky

 

39

The endless breath

Caught in a boundless depth

Of stillness floating

And wisdom rising kingdoms

From the pits and to the sky

 

38

Unpredictable

You stir the weather of my heart

Always leaving me

With the chance of sunny spells

And a slight risk of showers

 

37

We do not know death

It hides around corners

Yet touches us all

The essence of all life's end

Preserved in a darkened room

 

36

Upon the dying wind

A kiss moulded by the land

And harshly received

Like frozen flowers to the touch

A thought crushed in the mulch

 

35

Envelopes of fortune

Treasured lives cast in ink

Memories foretold

Future bleak in winter clothes

Myths dispelled by ragged prose

 

34

The trees talk at night

Whispers in the humid dark

Calling for water

For sustenance underground

A tree root knocks on my door

 

33

The desolate world

Where icicles falling

Are the only sounds

No human ear, no human mouth

Intelligence is no more

 

32

Dignified silence

The flickering of the mouth

Willing tears to stop

Emotions to hide in cages

Until the darkness gives up

 

31

These branches hurry

From the eyes and to the sky

Waiting for answers

From the raindrop factory

News of a place in heaven

 

30

The clock erases time

Eats it up as if it were soup

And we are only

Beginning to understand

Its unbecoming nature

 

29

Quiet destiny

Can you hear the whisperers?

And the unsubtle dwarfs

Who mime-slit their quiet throats

As your destination awaits

 

28

I am a falling leaf

Fate-wrapped by the winds of change

Duty-bound for life

Whether wilting on tarmac

Or falling into the earth

 

27

Forever falling

But kept in place by the Earth

Our souls are resting

On the land of the living

And in death we shall awake

 

26

The sound of emptiness

Then an amazing vibration

As the tibetan bowl

Sings its melody of calm

Through the peaceful air

 

25

The ethereal peace

That rests within human hearts

Is often buried

Deeper than conversation

And greater than conscious thought

 

24

Uncommon gazes

Are like sparks of gentle light

Where passion underlies

The framework of loves' guise

Until clouds become night

 

23

Black leaves gradually wilt

To a silhouette of fire

That beckons the day

Into night, like a fountain

Recurring dreams will out

 

22

Cocooned inside warmth

This bird that knows no outside

So when an open door

Whispers the words of freedom

It flies to its death

 

21

Awaiting events

Is all life seems to be for

Whether its yours or mine

Doesn't matter anymore

It's all just broken space

 

20

The wire frame wilts

And this body slopes to the ground

To be consumed

By the crunching soil beneath

And hungry earthworms below

 

19

The night is rising

The stars are moving in place

I am gently resting

Hoping to find oblivion

In the quiet corners of sleep

 

18

It seems to me that

Time passes without refrain

And we cannot hope

To cherish a moment through will

Or sheer determination

 

17

Enraptured in all things

This beating heart chooses words

As delicately formed

As petals in the breeze

Weighed down by the falling rain

 

16

Never shall we see

The cogs that turn the machine

That's not for us to see

Instead I'll settle for nature

And contentment sprung from ants

 

15

Silence is a cloud

That rises with the wind of life

As wisdom grows out

And as purity sinks low

To the deeper waters of the soul

 

14

Nothing illumine

Nothing wet from dusty rain

Just a sadness

That pervades the physical realm

Like a fine mist sweeping through

 

13

Observing still life

In the borders of a dream

Then opening eyes

To a black and white world

Monochrome at best

 

12

Empty vessels

Electric dreams

Disengaged harmony

They are the mechanical

Pariahs of our age

 

11

The jerky prism

Shedding its beauty like leaves

Throwing nature's dice

Releasing a thousand dreams

From the dark side of the moon

 

10

To burst free of these walls

To stand up against logic and sense

To believe in angels

To walk into a mystery

Is fiction at its very best

 

9

Like sleeping dragons

There is hope in the absurd

While outside of our dreams

Reality bites its boredom

Inside them we live for hope

 

8

The lady sleeps

Resplendent in silent poise

Happy perhaps

With the land she has discovered

Unaware of the world's turning

 

7

Gentility misplaced

In your urban flowers

Where foxes hunt the night

And the rivers flood their banks

This is nature's anarchy

 

6

The subtle sinking

Of seas not sailed or sallied

Here the aftermath

Roars like a tiger's soul

As the world gently unspools

 

5

To be encased within

This vessel of mortal splendour

I wallow in the wind

For the antithesis

Of all freedom's woes

 

4

The quiet of Earth

The invisible turning

Milkshake frothy head

Melting into obscurity

Thickened skin like melting glass

 

3

What lies entrenched

Beneath this soggy chamber?

What past shadows darken

Beneath the ruination

Of this forgotten house?

 

2

In dreams we wake

To the alabaster sun

Then sit under a tree

Until the lie is complete

And our real lives can begin

 

1

Storms gather oceans

And bring their moods to meet

The sympathetic

Dwellings of our tired Earth

Born in yesterday's rage