Knock

We are locked in a cloak of dreams

Knock three times and we might let you in

The stars light up 

Like popsicles in treacle

We dance on candy bars

Dodge the corners of reality

Inside and out

The dull scrape of plaster board

Wears 

Me

Out

The orange is crawling in mould 

The chocolate is mixed with pepper 

Tick tock

Tick tock

The bugs laugh in the mirror

The jam is in the dead fox

The ceiling is in the potion pot

We dream behind a five bar gate

Where the bandages are damp

Down the hole

Over and out

The grief eats

Bare bones

Empty bones

Frozen shines in the night

A resolute promise

You have to get high

To avoid the storm

Inside we are done 

And dusted

She taps my dead arm

A jovial tune

I am locked in a cloak of dreams

Knock three times and I might let you in.

Passed

You smoked Mayfair’s

I hired a cake tin

Tried to bake it sweet

I will trip skip over the moon

Swallow the flowers whole

That sounds nice sighs Alice

As we ingest our scars alone

The bells got stuck

Like stray birds

Struggling to take flight

They lodged in our throat 

Like an old year 

Passing in the night

Sometimes there are spiders 

Buried in the bed

Wishing 

Wishing

Silent creeping 

Going to tea with the bugs

Laughs Alice 

A little pale

A little plain

All our colour gurgles down the drain

Something chimes inside

Day done

Gone the sun

Find the moon

And eat the stars

We lie on the floor

Expecting something holy to arrive

I hold her hand like the only truth

How far we have strayed

Beyond the spiders

Past the bells

As far beyond 

As an old year

Passing in the night.

Sleep

There is a blue star on your door 

Silver foil around the house

Nobody in

Nobody out

All invitations must be inviting

She gurgles and burps

Through cherry pop lips 

The ginger pig laughs to see such fun 

And the girl ran away with the spoon 

One hand gives me flowers

The other makes me burn

I’ve flown to you in a dream before

Valentine powder and rust

Our head is higher than Hatter

She squeals

Brighter

Light 

Alive

We really are quite brilliant 

Sinking in the dark

The jam spins a vortex in the sink

Fervent

Like our wishes

Sticky as our thoughts

Quick sticks

Catch Rabbit’s watch

The bells are trapped in the mist

Clink

Clank

Sink

We surely must fall down

There is a blue star on your door

Silver foil around the house

I would like to peel you open

And tender to legend

Sleep.

Stars

We are breaking up radio waves 

In the bathroom

They fall

Like stars

We catch them

Put them in our pocket

At seven we will eat chocolate with a spoon

It took us so long to join the dots

That now we are too tired to eat them

Tell me about it says Alice

Wiping sugar off her tongue

Her eyes drowsy and thick

My throat burns at the memory 

Of that powder

Mixed up like magic

Waiting to perform

A thousand years gone

A thousand still to come

They will pass as quickly as a penny dropping 

Alice whispers from on high

Down she falls like a snag

After rabbit

Joins me in that dream

The one where we are sniffing cocoa and powder 

Inside the white walls

Buried in light

Like it was a choice 

A kind of glass reform

Help me

Help me

She wails and mocks

I tell her not to talk

Panic sweat look laugh

She always brings me to the ground

The dragon turns tricks at the bus station 

He has a hat on

But is still a little scary

Yellowed and soft  

Crooked teeth waiting to bite

Take a slice

He confuses us

An eye lash waits on the tea pot

We coat it in sugar

Swallow it down

Please don’t leave us magic 

We are breaking up radio waves

In the bathroom 

They fall

Like stars

We catch them

Put them in our pocket.

Song

We will take a room in the house of beauty 

Nestle there safe and sound

A warm string of paper 

A blanket of words

Crash Bang

Who cares if the ceiling falls down

We are alive in a space and time

Which can never be flooded

We like it there

Quietly humming our own speed of light

They switched the milk

Turned it into wine 

And cake claps Alice

Wiping the powder off her nose

We are waiting waiting

To take the bags down

Once they have gone

And our pulse descends

Down the stairs 

Softly 

Softly

Into the cellar

The light glares brightly down there

Mean like her

Scowling and growling in the kitchen cupboard

Too hungry to eat

Too tired to sleep

Hush

Hush

Blow the candles out

We wish for a mist to slow ourselves down

A white bright room 

In a house safe and sound

Silver bangles clank in raincoat pockets

A chime

A voice

Falling petals 

Singing in the night

All will be right

All will be well.

Space

I was nothing more than a bag of sugar

A summer gift never rejoiced

The cat in the floor tiles smiles

Not all good things are born at Christmas time

The jam jars sit pretty on the shelf

Time to peel the labels off

Alice squeals and claps like a lunatic

Fingers sticky until twelve o'clock

In the winter came a bag of toys 

We would have traded them for love

Outside heavy births of rain

Like planets falling she giggles

We pull on the threads of angels

Untangle their wishes and dreams

Let’s hitch a ride and fly into space 

She wipes the jam off her lips

Hyper fix

The milk sits quietly in the fridge

I used eight percent

Our hair still smells like hospital sheets

Let's put our words on the table

Crash bang

The building falls down

The little girl sleeps underground

Fear makes the wolf look bigger 

Grandmother wrote on the wall

She smelt old whispers Alice

Liquorice and linen tucked in drawers forever and ever and ever

I will remember every moment of you 

You will not be lost

Even when time spreads thin

And spins like plates

On top of dwindling poles

A tower of fruit cake stands on the side 

Some kind of crafty endeavour

Ready steady tumble down

Tread carefully 

I say

Like rain

Like snow

Like a summer gift barely touched in the night .

Shrink

We put bin bags at the windows and bells upon the doors

It blocks out moon and star 

They will come back 

That's right I say and stroke her hair

She really is a clever girl

My twist of clover in the night

Are we keeping dark in or out

A little of both

I feel her shake and hold her tight

Sway in time with the song 

We drank shrank ourselves silly to blunt out light

There was a birthday party but it was like I wasn't there

Tea cake incendiary devices waiting to explode

You lost your shoes remember

The stairs hurt 

The hall was empty 

Daddy played with our friends

Real falls heavy

Heavier than the bandages cemented to my leg 

We slip under

A quiet lethargy in our singular vacuum of space and time

The sound of us being human

The sound of us being alive

We are surrounded by scaffold

But our heads are still on squeals Alice

Clapping her hands in triumph 

The bells fall heavy in the fog

Trying to reach our ears

It's ok

It's ok

I will turn your ribbons in the dark

We clutch them 

Hold them to our heart

Like time

And love

Mixed up in blood

The powder comes back

Of course it does

No stopping it 

Leaking in the windows

Clawing through the floor

We hunker bunker down 

I chose the candy coated pink 

High tea

Gobble swallow down

Slippety slip under

Full but empty inside.

Soft

It’s really quite a haze

Not as settled as a dream

Not as wild as up

Time passed like jelly underfoot

Raspberry strawberry and stars

Claps Alice

She is back

Skipping tripping words and hands

They put names on the board

Times to wait

Don’t worry we have plenty

She adjusts her apron

Straightens her socks

How long were you gone she asks

I don’t remember

I closed my eyes

Oh

So how did you find me

I always will

Traipse strain pull the chains

Mummy’s coming home

I sang her song through my head I whisper

You know

That one

Of course silly

She gave it to you

I was there

Remember

I don’t remember falling

I think I reached the back 

Of my head

Of the thoughts

It was dark

Like a cave

It scared me

She brushes my hand quickly

Like a candle flame

Warm like milk 

A filet of sustenance 

A brief exchange

You really were deranged 

Madder than hatter 

She chuckles

I smile

We can’t change who we are Alice

Only get better and better and bestest she squeals

I hold her close

In the blue seat beside me

Ours is a love that cannot be feigned

Warm as a red cape in the forest

Sweeter than candy on the path back

She rests her head on my shoulder and breathes slowly

We are awake

Settled in our dream

Two hearts wrapped softly

Home

Together

Swaddled in the red bed.

Whitewash

The paint wakes me up

Jubilant white

It is not soft and sweet like rabbit

It gets under my nose

Like something isn’t right

I kept her safe

In my pocket

My little blue butterfly

Waiting to soar

The constant hum in my pocket

Her wings

Trying

Trying

I sat on the pink box

It was so cold

In the paper clothes

Too real

For me

And Alice

Time scrambled and squashed in stained sheets

We came home

Bumpety bump

In the white van

The man who was dying

Smiled at me

Something about beautiful

And lots of time left

How terrible to gobble up

Waste

The very thing he desired

I swallowed

Sicker than after the powder

The sun sank bright orange

Bigger than a penny dropping

Quieter than a bomb

I have neglected everything I am

In pursuit of everything I am not

Curious whispers Alice

I am still here

Soft in your pocket

Waiting

Waiting

Vital as a compact mirror

For when you see yourself

I lie back

Let the paint settle and the pump hum

Wipe the dust from my hands

After the whitewash.