Tumble

The beehives tumble

Is there honey in them

Not today little cricket

We make a bone leap through the wires 

How can you keep jelly beans in a cage 

She giggles

Swallow them

Like an Eat Me cake

We are up and down

Bouncing around

Not enough glue to stick us down

I look at your face

So little it barely has form

Yet here you are

Vital 

Sparse 

Spare

She chews each colour

Piece by sugary peace

Her eyes relax

We drift into a lighter place

Our real heart

Bright 

Electric 

Ribbons

Pulsing

Inside

Kindness spills 

From the edge of her fingers

To the tips of her toes

Are we trapped in a cage with the monster

Or angels tucked up in a box

Maybe we are like that kitty

If nobody can see us

We are not really here

She dusts the sugar 

A melodramatic sweep 

Of long blond hair

Cages have gaps

And boxes can be chewed

We can all get out 

If we want to

The beehives tumble

Is there honey in them

Not today little cricket

We make a bone leap through the wires. 

Mad

We submit our ashes 

Pink and blue and green

Pollen

Little moments collected

Of you and me

Time stored like hops 

In a memory pot 

If we spread the dates out

There would be a path

Scorched  

Written on our skin

Spider comes  

We scoop her up

Her eggs a capsule 

Waiting to scream 

Spill their gourd into being

Like words she whispers

She sits in the crook of my arm

Chest rising and falling

Quick and hot

Katydids and forget-me-nots

Ringed around her lips

I really did make a mess 

We all do I say

Rinsing her face

What will I do after you leave

Keep making my ashes

Inside my stomach quakes

There was a former time

When the shops were empty

And nobody intervened

Then I came

She says

And madness set us free.

Equal

We sit in our jar

Infected

Irritable

All out of sorts

Jumping beans 

Bounced to desiccation

Potatoes baked beyond 

The stretch of their skin

Strained

Drawn 

Roasted

They put the past behind

And the future in front 

Where are we

At the equinox silly 

Not quite here

Not quite there

Not quite anywhere

We sit in our jar

On caramel days 

There are flowers and bees

A hum and a buzz

A little heart

Falling

A penny and potion

Swallowed down whole

On treacle days

The lid sets like glue

Stuck to our nose

And to our clothes

On treacle days

There is no air to breathe

No sky to dream 

All things being equal

It could always be worse 

She says

Licking caramel off her fingers

I write out sums

Our favourite pencil is warm

The lines soft

Like co-ordinates

Patching us together

Here we are

Here we are

In our little jar

She shakes 

Sparkles and glows

Darkens and falls

We look to the window

There is sun inside a yellow head

She whispers to me

Winter is dead.

Offer

I hold the little hummingbird 

In my hand

Offering up a part of who I am

She keeps me safe 

When no one else can

Try as I might

I smite myself down

She considers the concept slowly

Travelling the outer reaches of our land

Blue expanses

Steely dams

Whales in oceans

Baskets of spiders

Dolphins in pans

All part of who I am

The chocolate turns to sludge 

Writhing and melting

You know the whole business

Is quite deplorable

She springs up

Murderous and whimsical

My badass little champion

We toss words

Like pancakes

Sizzling in hot butter

Whisper sing 

A hopeless spell

Dust to gold

Colour to chaos

Apple to core

I cannot change who I am

Trouble is your guise is burnt 

Deep in the heart of you

Thick as treacle

Indigo dye

We could take a match 

Light the straw

Set a fire

You would still be you 

There is a cold place

In the centre of our land

Where flowers fade

And all seems lost

To leave we must understand 

me you us

I hold the little hummingbird 

In my hand

Offering up a part of who I am.

Fanciful

Are we fanciful 

She asks

Nibbling the chocolate 

Flake by flake

Cleaning her finger nails 

Measure by measure

We are sat in blue

I prefer the sky 

She says gravely 

It seems we are always locked in

Boxes 

Houses

Thoughts which spin

Cupcakes 

On a carnival wheel

I would like to see the world from above

We are always looking down 

The chocolate melts

Like skin

Over heating

Slowly falling off

She shakes the globe

Firm and sure

A wish for snow 

And all things nice

Catching spiders 

Like candy bars

One a penny 

Two a penny

All fall down

It's more likely to be chaos

Than rain

Which pours

Still

We are here 

She whispers

Are we fanciful 

She asks

Always little cricket

She smiles.

Table

I walk with 

My blue table

Through puzzles 

Puddles and leaves

There are many adventures 

We will meet

On the surface

In the folds

Breaking up the alphabet

Like the yellow brick road

Listening to the 

Tilt gossip flow

We are missing

In the hollows 

Talking 

Love

The authenticity of pain

Like chocolate or cheese

Falling on our tongue

An improper wealth 

Of scars

A doubtful ending 

She leans into me

We are hiding 

In between the cupboard and fridge

The space where 

The neighbours cannot find us

We rub our eyes

A jagged edge of light

Pours through the

Hush and cries

I have never really lived anywhere

Always moving

Never still

Never pinning down

The wild blue electricity 

Wiring everything inside

In the flower bed

Up the walls

Gently drifting in the hills

I mean you’re not real are you

I walk with 

My blue table

Through puzzles 

Puddles and leaves

There are many adventures 

We will meet

On the surface

In the folds.