small measures

It has been a while, measured
in breaths, in, out, like tick
and talk about the weather
Time marked and dismissed
with the taking of pills
and meals and chilled tea
I haven’t thought of you
in days, maybe weeks
Thyme cures all, they say
Rambles and brambles
would etch patterns
more entrancing than
the creases of these sheets
imprinted on my skin
Artists, like prisoners,
make much of so little,
dying to be remembered

make way

Let us dust the dirt
off our needs chafed
on the shame heaped ground
where we fumbled and rumbled
—to find our worth—
stumbling over our hopes
for more than either
could spare for the other

Let us follow the lead
of dead leaves scuttling
across the pavement
like it could save them
from disintegration
or the disgrace of negation
and make way
for new growth

tuning out

I’m a master of last words
gone unheard
Running faster
towards disaster
than fall leaves under foot
Still, I stop to capture
stillborn laughter bursting
forth from yet another
struck dumb with wonder
at their footing crumbling
and the bridge giving way

I stopper the song
from seeping into my veins
It cannot stirr my senses
to see through the haze
I tune into debates
on the uselessness of faith
And think of time wasted
waiting for change
to come from beyond
and release me from blame

love of the day

Today, I fell in love
with leaves drooping under frost
in raging red despair
And with tree stumps
sitting lost amongst bushes
trimmed back into restaint
While ivy took advantage
to reach greater heights

I fell in love
with the mute garbage bins
sworn to secrecy
And the stark sky overtaken
by a confusing haze
I drank the autumn draught
and spewed some words
on your crackled withered heart
To see if it could spark
enough light for the dark season
But silence boxed away
all rhyme and reason
worth the harvest

change changed

I always welcomed change,
how it expanded vistas,
adding pieces large and small
opening doors and paths
to forge and follow
Now it chips and wears away,
drops barriers
and opens chasms
before narrowed entrances
Where it offered options,
towards possibilities,
it now forces choices
from probabilities

I don’t welcome change
as much, anymore

slow slough

If I had my way
and you had yours,
we’d stand the same
as we had before
If only to underscore
how neither of us
has changed

So many times
we’ve come and gone,
leaving much
unsaid, undone
While with each one
we slowly sloughed
our souls away

resolve

And the words flew away with the birds and the breeze
blowing down my neck
like a secret decree
that the future will rise
in spite of these dying dreams

And try as I might
to shed tears or some light
to clear away shadows
cast over my eyes
Their edges are sharp
scratching up thoughts
I should hide

I’m biting my tongue
’til I taste the blood
clotting my urges
with rusted resolve
I’m brimming with cause
growing blind to stars up above

disclaimer

I’ve maimed and disclaimed
all that would be tamed
and laid blame at the feet
of false saviours
Who’s to say my behaviour
does not favour bitter flavours
to save me from endeavours
Doomed to fail 

And if all things pass
and nothing lasts
why cast my gaze
beyond this grass
where I can sit and admit
those bits of shame
to be dismissed
when time comes
to make long lists
of confessions and regrets
at having let
the winds’ whispers hint
there could be more in less

last dance

By when we’d earned
our turn to shine
with bodies bound to duty
our tongues tied in lies
we swayed in the corners
of our crowded minds
trained wallflowers
entranced by the dance
that could have been our lives

reset

The smiles from the ads
hint at what I can’t own
While faces around me
hang like dried autumn leaves
I think of this past winter
and what didn’t grow
As spring reloads
its new green
Sometimes you just have to
let things go
Even if much awaits
to be seen