I Can’t Seem To Write

I can’t seem to write
The words aren’t there
The tip of my tongue
World and long renowned
As a quick-draw revolver
And though I’ve got it aimed
There’s no ammunition

I can’t seem to write
The words aren’t there
The back of my mind
A well catalogued library
Is in perpetual disarray
And every book I want to read
Has been loaned out

There’s ten thousand clichés
For what I’m trying to convey
But try as I may and might
I just don’t have the words
I’m stuck in the mud
Spinning my wheels
Running in neutral

I can’t seem to write
The words aren’t there
The tip of my tongue
Is still a well-loaded gun
Holstered beneath a smile
My thoughts itch the trigger
But I know better

Technicolor Hearts

it’s about to begin
soak in this spectrum
of light and sound
I sprayed my love
across your walls
in technicolor

pay no mind
to twisted faces
grinning smiles
their hollow eyes
looking, staring
right through

they’re monsters
locked away
stashed secretly
deep within
deep down
free them now

one thousand tiny
stinging paper cuts
from love letters
I couldn’t bear
to seal and send
piling ever higher

I’m so afraid
the messenger bird
shot out of the sky
a cloud of feathers
heavier than the sun
I can’t bear to witness
I can’t bear to be

I sprayed my love
across your white walls
in the technicolor
of my bleeding heart
it’s just as you imagined

The Mistrust of Head and Heart

Making sense of what you’ve said
With the thoughts already on my mind
Well, darlin’ don’t look down
Cos it’s too far for you to fall

Count the hours and face your fears
Oscillate and get nowhere fast
Well darlin’ don’t look now
They’ll be coming through the door

I’ve been thinking about your
… love and what I’ll do
You’re hanging over me
Storm clouds and loggerheads

You get me down, so I get high
And I’ve been hanging out for days
Sitting in your haunted grounds
With the apparition of your love

Three days ago on that beach we combed
I was digging up the harder days
Well darlin’, I might have known
You’d been tearing up all the photographs

Lost sight of what love really was
When I set sail for higher ground
In a few days I’ll find my way around
It just takes some time to move on

The Shore

I’m on way
To the sea
I’ll see you there
All bows and curls
Lift you up
And spin you round
The girl I used to whirl

Sweet tonics
To sip and sulk
Old fashioned potions
Foolhardy devotions
Night stand night terrors
Locked you in the drawer
Cast away the key

I’m on my way
To the sea
Light the beacons
And sound the horns
Darling, I’d wash in
On the morning tide
To drown upon your shore

Vergift

I’m stranded
Out on the rock
Of the beach
Of your love

Searing sunshine
Simmering horizon
The boiling ocean

I’m sickly
By vergift
Your gift
To me
In the dying light
The fading embers
A sickly-sweet kiss
The taste of death
On those lips
Those tracing
Fingertips

Disheveled
Gone haywire
Watch the machine
Misfire
Tinker and toil
Ratchet and wrench
A thousand more pieces
For you to try and fit
Reconfigure
Reconstruct

My malleable heart
The blacksmith’s iron
Forge and shape
Temper and mold
Glowing white-hot
Searing sunshine
You’ve left my body
So very cold

She Calls Me The Sea

She calls me
The sea
Receding from shore
The push
The pull
New moon, treacle sky
Brilliant points of light
Familiar shapes
Each with a name
A story to tell
This cool embrace
Warming you
In time, undertow
This deep union
The push
The pull
She calls me
The sea
Rushing back in
Cresting high
And white
Exploding
Into the sea wall
This last lament
Between you and I
Drags me under
One more time
Dive down in
And meet me there

Objects In Mirror…

I’ve been driving down
These long desert roads
Through moonless nights
To cool my foolish pride
Such a barren landscape
Rocky, cold, unforgiving
I know I’ve been here before
When the sun was shining
And burning in my heart
Night always comes too soon
Smothering the flames
And I keep on driving down
These long desert roads
I need a roadside attraction
Another five dollar distraction
To keep you in my rear view
You’ll always look closer
Than you appear

Occupy

she said I’m in need of a distraction
something to fill up my mind
something to occupy my time

they come at me when I least expect it
with teeth like the night
and long slithering tongues
cold and unforgiving like the wind
wrapping itself around me
and pulling me in, in, in

the sheen of hungry golden eyes
slatted and slanted morning sunlight
through the hollows of the beast
he’s not feeding on me
but rather the fear I carry
the host within the host

I’ve gotten myself lost again
wandering down dark halls that twist
shapes form and fade in the shadows
my hairs standing at attention
the cold steel sword of fear
tracing along the back of my neck

she said I’m in need of a distraction
something to occupy my mind
but I’m about to lose my head again

The Insistence of Loss

the pale yellow sunlight
flickers through the fog
while my feet carry me
on and on and on
the distance covered
and so much more to go
not sure if I’m counting
in meters, miles or years
still, it persists as we age
more inevitable, unavoidable
finally, inescapable it becomes
we’re always aware
but never prepared
and it can strike us down
when we’re feeling our strongest
battles, trials and tribulations
some of us experience it young
those of us that may never recover
but always it gives us pause
as pale yellow sunlight
flickers through thinning fog
and my feet carry me
on and on and on

The Patient

The Doctor is in
I’ve been feeling light-headed
I’m the balloon floating sky-high
Far, far below a small speck cries
His tiny hands just couldn’t grasp
They’ll console and he’ll forget

Now, I’m wayward
Going anywhere the wind blows
Afraid I’ll be caught along the way
Among the trees their spears bared
One jab from the sharp sentinels
I’d be done for and he’ll forget

The Doctor just listens
I feel them writhing all over me
Thousands of legs, hard carapace
And those cold, penetrating eyes
Piece by tiny piece, I’m disassembled
Assimilated and he’ll forget

Part of the hive
Rich combs of nectar and honey
An ever-present buzz is our tune
A drone for a drone it fits the name
All hail to her Royal Highness
The Queen that he’ll forget

The Doctor is in
I’ve been slipping away for days
Grains of sand in a sinking hourglass
Hoping someone from somewhere
Will grant a hand and turn me over
Last grain slips and he’ll forget