a VIRUS is spreading governments have sent us into lockdown for our protection we must stay indoors speak on screens instead of in person but it can’t be contained people have been seen smiling at one another and it’s spreading leaders are worried about its implications

August burst open Like a door in the wind Waking me early And tuning over my things In frenetic energy I tripped over myself And in tears and in silence I returned to myself

can i breathe into my heart and let it whisper something place your ear to my chest and i’ll tell you that longing you feel i feel it too that hollow you feel i feel it too we’re in this together this machine this organic tree this silver beech

can we pause for a moment and appreciate how magical it is that we can hear sounds from another time and another place in our minds as if our thoughts were music

The universe collapsed into our kiss Folding choc chips in cookie dough A cosmic dance between lips Senses entwined, I became you Briefly, in eternity And I fell through Somewhere, in that space

cupid’s arrow left it’s mark in me and now i bleed for you limping towards his destiny

dont let my heartbreak go to waste i never knew what to do with those words except keep them in my flesh like shards of glass to remind me every time i moved that i had felt something

drip onto the page my darlings grow into words and fly to other souls there’s no place for you here in my heart which is cold and unknown a dark paradise glistening at the edges

fallen broken listen shapen and filthy you were born and died

These gilded waves And butter kissed grass Melt at the shore Memories of you That burn in my heart Embers without warmth In slow decay I should let your hand slip And pull myself to ground But I look longingly To the ocean of my past Still hoping to be found

Have you ever walked by somewhere And suddenly noticed This thing that was always there It captures you In a moment of rapture And lingers with you Like a passenger Invite the ordinary And life becomes extraordinary

You arrived like a storm after a hot summer But announced yourself like a cat scratching at my door I let you in and we played cards And after you lost, I decided I should probably let you win You shared poems that were portals to feeling And took me places imbued with meaning You said you had the energy of chaos But seemed more like the butterfly wing Than the hurricane

i am a little red insect on the branch of a tree deep in the jungle i chirp for no particular reason it’s just what i do this parrot may not understand me it may even want to eat me but who am i to judge i’m just a little red insect on the branch of a tree

i am a lost cause a boat on the sea and it sails north because thats where the stars are that’s where the sun sets in the reflection of the waves and i say goodbye to the sinking figures of my past that hit the ocean floor and drag behind like an anchor

i am a tigress i am a lemon grass i am stewarding the joy i am beyond measure you are not going to fall i am only a messenger a gardener of the divine

i am going to find a tube and put you inside it im going to shake it and bury it so that you’ll fizz into the ground and be eaten by worms they’ll crawl through you looking for something else just like you wandered the earth looking for me

i cannot be with this sadness this longing this heartache i cannot fall into it any more than i can fall into his arms

I decided to replace God With goodness For there is goodness in all of us And though your goodness May look different to my goodness Goodness always feels the same So trust in goodness Because words are meaningless They divide us and limit us But goodness will always prevail

i have only whispers in my pocket that tell me what change i’ve lost

i put my hands to my face in grief and despair and through the gaps of my hands on the keyboard a question mark appears

i read the clouds like tea leaves and make meaning i watch you leave like dad did and write poetry

i thought focus was strain like squinting to look at something far away my whole body became tight and everything else drained away

im not going anywhere im just here in this eternal spiral can i soften my body and let go into something else can i fall backwards through time into myself

in this cosmic croissant we have a few bites and our fingers are greasy with love for butter

isn’t it odd that when we’re talking we assume people are listening but when others are talking our minds are wandering it leaves me wondering how much has lost in gap

licking my lips is the most sensual kiss

love lingers in the heart like the end of a note i hold down the key unwilling to let go of the stillness that remembers the song

merely a reflection no time for love when i have bills to pay

mirror moon daytime noon i lost myself and found myself in a dream that felt like this so what’s a dream if it’s all like this mirror moon mirror moon

my heavy heart wants to be held but it’s afraid it’s too much to hold so it sinks into my chest and i sink deeper into my bed in rest

one by one i’m lighting candles in the dark because i like candles i like the way they burn the heat the light the way the flames dances in impermanence

I received a message from the past today From me, a year ago He took the time to write To let me know that I’m never alone That each moment supports the next That each me is a thread in the weave And I can reach through time To lend a hand when I’m in need So this poem is a gentle reminder For all of us From me, a year ago

past lives belong to this life i have died a dozen times and i will die again i breathe and i let go i do not hold onto the breath because it gives me life i let it go so i can breathe again

shame and yet this open pain in my heart is what lets the music in

Here upon my skin The drawings of a child Red crayon pressed deep Scribbled lines Pockmarks and crators He doesn’t speak through me For fear of being silenced Quietly sketching his anger Until my whole body bruises And I can no longer hide my shame

Slow down Does not mean what you think it means Stop trying to slow your racing mind Literally slow down your body Walk slower Reach for your cup slower Breathe slower And a funny thing happens Your thoughts slow down to catch up

Something shatters When you’re people watching And you look up And you realise You too are being watched And in a moment of recognition The observer and the observed Collapse Into a smile and a wave

sparkling water is best when the bubbles shoot from the depths to the surface and out in a plume with a message for you bring your ear in close and listen

stillness caught by surprise in the hands of love and out into new

Stop trying Just fall Fall until you fall no further Until distance becomes sound And you land Not with a thud But a whisper: I’m here

sugar coat me paint me make me fat with compliments and i’ll go where you are because you want me to

sunlight against my portrait i want to touch it but im afraid it will come away on my fingers and destroy it so i watch from a distance my own life on canvas changing by light

sunshine on my lips you kiss me into a black hole and for a while all we know is touch and sound until our eyes open and we’re here again laughing

we see branches as different to roots but they are the same just as the mind is the same as the body

Peace is a weapon of love Time an instrument of the divine Death the breath of life Grief with nowhere to go Magic gives face to the unknown Anger, unfulfilled hope Solitude a waking state of rest Poetry the fruit of trauma Logic chisels against marble Where story whispers to the heart Ego is the hand puppet of god Presence is all that we’ve got

what is it about time that creates distance what is it about distance that creates perspective such that i can see myself more clearly then than i can now

When I try to move a spider From my hand to the ground And it runs away from my fingers Not realizing I’m trying to help it I wonder if I’m ever like that In the hands of God

when the light strikes you a bead of precious gold hangs gracefully from your chin and as my eyes focus a pinprick opens up in space and stars appear in daylight