Will

The rain breaks the air

Like the shape of me

Clashing on the shoreline

Knocking on the door

Angry waves

Corpses hewn in sand

Barely strong enough

To bite the bullet

Make a stand

The inhalation shakes

Remind me that yes

I can be cruel

We all can

She says

Gently

Edging her way 

Into the crook of my hand

Glue is meant to stick things together

Not pull us apart 

If I am a flat line

You are my heart

One week

Two poems

Nothing absorbs the energy

Or the fear

Quite like the casket of the past

I am scared of coming down

With a bump

And a thump

Hyper tired

Super chaos

Recent highs and lows

Charge ahead

Push

Stretch

Pull

Travel far

Stay still

Hard to trust

How can well and blue 

Slip away so easily

Turn to algae and slime

A dour brook

Berating us

Tanning our hide

You and me misspelled 

Listen 

She says

Everything you need

You already know inside

Let’s sail the high seas

Cast away the map of burns

I run my tongue over my chipped teeth

She turns the umbrella upside down

Where to

She asks

France Italy home

Home I say

Always home.

Well

Our blanket is blue

Like skies

And muffins

And little pills

We nestle and chew

Contemplating

Feeling blue

Is very different

From being blue

She says

We hold tight

Let the afternoon

Fade and fall

Like breaths

Sometimes painstaking

Sometimes full

Time sticks in our hair

Prayers tidied up

The shop alarmed

I am still a little scared

I wipe my brow

Scattered

Running

Queasy

Sometimes I do not know

If I am rabbit or fox

Mother or Queen

Alice or Jae 

Whoever you are

You are doing very well

She says

Her words glow

Quietly

Like warm sun 

On the minute hand

Rested

Radiant

True

You know

It is quite possible to be 

Both well 

And blue

I hold her hand

For a moment we are still

Thank you

I say

Thank you.

Prophesy

She crunches her apple 

It has been a long time 

Sometimes yesterday

Almost tomorrow

She is wishing inside

Quietly parked in my arms

Happy 

I think

Composed

She corrects

Her hair is shiny

Dress 

Clean pressed and fresh

It was good they caught you

She whispers

Holding my hand

If they hadn’t 

We wouldn’t be able to play any more

Quick sticks

No time to lose

Our sins and thrills 

Have tolled and rolled

Fallen like timber

Instilled in our soul

We have to make things right 

She trills

I am scared of falling Alice

Then don’t 

She says

All falls start with one bad step

I think of the man

Of being stuck 

In the bottle of glue

Contained

Trapped

She corrects

We watch the clouds

Dreaming past the telephone pole

In the lines are forgotten shouts

Irascible destinations

Cards laid out

Installed

Enabled

We are given to magic and stars 

Twelve small stones

Mixed in a bowl of fireflies and mint

Poesy

Prophesy

Fable

There may not be home or even a rainbow

But the end always lies in the palm of our hand.  

Suffrage

Let’s play houses

She squeals

You be mummy 

I be Queen

Shall we take our friends

I look in the black bag

Five little toys 

Waving 

Drowning

Frowning

I know

We should cook some glue

Let's take a vote

The cat says yes

The mouse says no

Good god

I am losing my mind

I think

Crawling on the floor

Au contraire

She declares 

Your mind was lost 

Many times ago

Life is a box

Not a paradox

Paradoxically 

We will never sleep again

But we can trip and fall

As often as we like

She claps her hands

As if this is the best news ever

They roll out a sofa

In the seat

Is a tired Christmas tree

White

Terrified

Resigned

Look there are dolly prams too

She delights

Bikes and trikes and all things nice

She sits in the window

Huffing and puffing

New has been a long lost guest

She scrawls a note

It falls like petals

Circling our feet 

Blush

Red 

Marking our fatality

And gaping hole

Is our current status

Suffering or suffrage

Both I suppose

She checks the box

Not the paradox 

Around we go again

It is a deadly kind of harmony

I have seven needles

Five cans

And a plan

Let’s play houses

She squeals

You be mummy 

I be Queen

The casters rattle 

The van pulls away

We are stuck in our infinite cage.

Blue

Have you ever been blue 

She asks

Jumping off the shelf

Nagging like a parakeet

Quick

Sticks

Wakey

Wakey

It’s time to play the game

Crumble 

Crack

Laugh

Many times little cricket

Many times

She turns a lock of hair

Between her finger and her thumb

Perhaps we need to change then

You know waking up is nothing but luck

I reach for the dust

It sparkles and glows

Small lift

Electric thrum

Each empty can

A differential

Marking out the lonely days

Lick

Slick

Trick

We crawl on the floor

Cook up our dust and glue

It swirls like chum

In the bottom of the cup

I would prefer plum pie 

She declares from on high

I find the smell quite irksome 

Spun

Numb

Dumb

I do believe we have succumbed 

To the buttocks of existence 

Chin 

Chin

Salute 

We swallow it down

It has a fine nose

She says

Smacking her lips

We sit

Flick through the pages

Bored

Tired 

Waiting

It seems like parasites we will always survive

Have you ever been blue

She asks

Many times little cricket

Many times

We are the girl in the green room

With blue on the pipes

And dust in our soul.

Pan

Are we pretty or peculiar

She asks

She is eating crayons in the sink 

Tweaking it out

Pretty peculiar I think

Holding my ears

Everything is

Splitting 

Loud

Check the spoons a thousand times

Bug

Bugs

Bugged

We need the spiders 

To swallow the flies

I don’t know why

I don’t know why

She sighs

She gives up on carefree

Lies on the floor 

Looking up

There is a distant hello

Not ours

We are absent Alice

The bones of a building 

Long since abandoned 

Did you only just figure that out

She giggles

Baptism

Baby Party

Where did it fall apart

There were no parties

Silly

No cakes or balloons

You just came

Nobody wanted you

They needed your body

Shelled you out like a pea

She pops her cheek 

She is right of course

Our names are empty vessels

She traces a finger down my spine

We don’t belong anywhere

Apart from when we trip and tweak

Care for another

She giggles and burbs

It’s so much easier 

Falling down

I chew my fingers

We’ve tried

Died

Fried ourselves alive

There is nothing left to do

Up and down the clock 

Tick tock

My sleeping

Depends on her habit

Are we pretty or peculiar

She asks

Pretty peculiar I think

I hold her hand

Dead pan

As we fall down 

The sink

Sink.