Saturday, 28 January 2017

Crook





















We sit in the eaves
Dropping 
Like plants
Resisting 
Nestled in the crook of our world
She chews the void
Like tobacco and lies
Defiant
Unafraid
I line the windows with knives
Wise as grandma 
She chuckles
Eyes lit up
Alive
I did the same in my first world
All academic of course
Suspicions and demands
Buried under talk and promises
I think that’s why we are friends
She hops down
Eyes lit up
Alive
We turned the hole into a sky
Never doubt 
There is always a door 
A way to get out
We hold each other on the floor
The red scared me
Peppered the walls like clowns
Sometimes there is nothing more
Maybe that’s enough 
She whispers
Eyes lit up
Alive

We sit in the eaves
Dropping 
Like plants
Resisting 
Nestled in the crook of our world.


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* sorry i haven't been able to return visits recently - as ever all your comments are greatly appreciated - thank you *


Wednesday, 25 January 2017

Change





















I run my fingers over my lips
They are dry
Stiff as parchment paper
Silent as the last word
Do you think it is possible 
She asks
Jumping down
They say everything is
The question is 
Do you want to move
Forward or back
Bug crawls over the ceiling
Thick as treacle
Dripping on the sheets
That’s why the Red Queen got cross
She had no moves to play
It really was a scandal
She chews the sugar
Giggles
Hums a tune
Takes herself back
And forward again 
I line the cans up 
All in a row
Dream a rifle
Hold a sticky hand 
On my stomach 
In the middle of the night
Rotund with glue
Her voice cracks the walls
Do you think it is possible
She asks

I run my fingers over my lips
They are dry
Stiff as parchment paper
Silent as the last word.

Saturday, 21 January 2017

Pie




















Do you remember crow
We baked him in a pie
She smacks her lips
Too much pepper I believe 
We are in the floor 
Sucking up glue 
Like sugar
It’s a curious choice
Like making your own snare
She plays with stars
Creating words 
Out of broken jars
Humming quietly
Coping 
Do we like music
I forget
I am out of touch
Heavy
Unreachable 
My own worst enemy
And bestest friend 
She giggles
They bang the wall every night at five
As if we have already died
Blackbirds in a pie
She smacks her lips
Perhaps the planks and bricks 
Are all that’s left
The burden of our birth
Heart and soul
Sprinkled on the earth
The best people know you are here
Know that you are real
Hope you stay a little longer
What do you want
Everything
Nothing
You have to decide
Loneliness is the mistake 
Holding you hostage on the cliff
You can take revenge 
Scramble to the light

She gives me a piece of glass
We make patterns on the wall
See, we are alive

Do you remember crow
We baked him in a pie.

Wednesday, 18 January 2017

Unity

















The Red Queen takes my hand
It is warm
Charged
Like electricity
She is trying to mend my broken skin
It’s not your time to leave 
My lips are stuck stuck
Sticky on the tin
Curious 
Says Alice 
Jumping down
I believe she said the same to me
Or was it him
And his misogyny

Not leaving can be both bad and good
Depending on where you are going 
And where you might have been
She licks her fingers
I think he was more oblivious
Than hateful

I watch the ants climb up the wall
You really shouldn’t be surprised
She giggles
We are not neophytes of this falling thing
She is right
Of course

I wore through my slippers
Kicking at the door
There’s no way out 
She mocks and moans
We are buried together 
In common ground

United and apart

Her fingers brush my hair
Like starlight
Where shall we begin 
She asks

We can write ourselves
Out
Or in.

Saturday, 14 January 2017

Spill

















The milk spills
Full to capacity
I think
You know the moon
Is just the sun turned upside down
Like flipping a coin
She circles the blue ribbon around her fingers
Making stitches and bows
Drawing something
Peaking and troughing
Rusty breaths 
In and out
I am so tired
Her bare feet cut the edges of my skin
Singe all sense of reason
Grief glimmers like morning  
On the edge of the cup
A well hoping to be buried
And woken up
You know it’s painful
To become
She slips her fingers in mine
I drink the water
We sit on the edge of the tub
My skin feels weak
Aching for something 
A place
A source of being
She throws the blanket over our feet
To hide the bruises
I shiver and shake
Inside I am shrill
Loud and shouting 
But here I am 
Noiseless
Stuck and still
Flipping the coin
I won’t 
I will

The milk spills
Full to capacity 
I think. 

Wednesday, 11 January 2017

Stop


















The walls are bending 
Not in a good way 
Like spoons
Or cows 
Through moons
She holds her head
Even the doors are lopsided
We spin and twirl
Looking 
Always looking 
One day I would like to stop
She declares
We hold hands
The best imagined
Kith and kin
Prayer board tidied
Not a mark or a sin
It is impossible to measure distress
If we cannot feel
We are so far away from ourselves
We cannot see
I wonder how many suns and moons 
Have passed us by 
She chews the milk
I grind the petals in my fingers
Wanting 
Something
Fresh sheets
New skin
I do not understand
How we are both
Locked in and out
I inhale
One day we will ride the stars like jockeys
She giggles

The walls are bending 
Not in a good way
Like spoons

I bruised my toes
Trying to get out.

Saturday, 7 January 2017

Reap


















Are you afraid of death
She presses her lips
To my head
Leans in
I inhale
Not enough little cricket
You remind me of someone I lost 
She springs down
Sleep torn  
Prowls the cupboards
We are hungry as wolves
Empty as lambs
She finds a sealed jar
Treasure she squeals
Sits on the floor
Pops the lid
Takes out her spoon
I close my eyes
Brain leaking
Like a siren
We are running out of cheats
She wipes her face
Full for now
It’s awfully dull watching 
Life is not surviving the fall
It’s how you climb out that counts
You need to reap your strengths
Sister dear
Truth she says
Leaping and preening
Is impossible to flee
We lie on the floor
Meek
Feeble
Brain leaking
I cannot dream a single wish

Are you afraid of death
She presses her lips
To my head
Leans in
I inhale
Not enough little cricket.

Wednesday, 4 January 2017

Escape

















We sit in our blue room
Mixing up strawberries and milk
She sings
Fingers in the pie
I inhale 
You really are incorrigible 
She giggles
Coming down
The room is empty
But not silent
The story runs on
Like a daisy chain
The gaping silence
The banging head
The hopelessness
Of being small
Lost in the corners 
Lovers
Liquor
Blindness
We saw it all
She says
Wiping the red from under her nails
It made us quite brave 
I believe
The story runs on
Like a daisy chain
Hard to break
Like sugar
Left on the shelf over night
The taste is hateful 
She smacks her lips
But still a delight

We sit in our blue room
Mixing up strawberries and milk

And we wait 
For the gift
The electricity 
The sound and vision
The words he gave us 
To escape.