"Tenderness and Lace"

Our minds bury those facts we cannot face:

one hundred ways to stay in denial.

We wrap our dreams in tenderness and lace -

then watch each one pass us by, in single file.

"To Pay the Rent" (version with one line revised)

So do I think that Sylvia was brave,

Selfish – or was she just out of her tree?



Don’t save me when there’s no-one left to save.



All is need is somebody to hear me.



So is it fair for people to blame Ted?

Why judge the lives of those we've never met?



What did Mind ever mean by "user-led"?



Why bother putting poems on the Net

Or writing them at all? I’m killing time,

But aren’t we all? It feels as though we are.

I’m always searching for another rhyme.

He drives me crazy with his damn guitar.



We’ve got a coalition government –

Still no income with which to pay the rent.

"Dancers"

vibrant dancers

in the velvet black night:

Christmas lights

"No Rhythm, Reason or Rhyme"

She cannot feel the rhythm,

and she cannot hear the rhyme.

She cries for unanswered questions,

and her confusion,

and their lies.

She cries for the pain,

the hurt deep inside,

that she has needed to disguise.

She cries for disappointment,

lack of rhythm, lack of rhyme.

Lack of reasons why.

"Winter Solstice"

sterling silver dreams

spinning

swirling

cleansing my spirit

sterling silver my hopes and dreams


and more imperfect expressions

of devotion

more heartfelt emotions


for Rhiannon

to understand

"Luminous" (version with one word altered)

I would paint my darkness

fluorescent pink:

defiantly luminous,

just like the screams

that both decorate and devour my dreams,

each scream, nightmare bright.

"Luminous"

I would paint my darkness

fluorescent pink:

defiantly luminous,

just like the screams

that both decorate and devour my dreams,

each one, nightmare bright.

"Each Morning"

Fears, familiar and

a few fresh ones

rise up to greet me

each morning:

sludgy, grey-brown fears,

unsettling my soul,

confusing my mind -

disorienting, disturbing,

distressing,

unharmonious.

"No Stars"

My sky is black -

no moon, no stars -

and each betrayal

leaves its scars.


No reason left

to carry on,

without a single star

to wish upon.

"Never To Be"

grieving for

each dream

unfulfilled

stillness, silence - my sanctuary

looking towards aspects

of the future

but warily

and wearily

jaded - inspiration, aspirations faded

maturity - maybe

lessons - okay, fine

but sadder

older and much sadder


and never to be

quite the same again

"Sepia Silence"

the sepia silence

of fading memories

unending sadness

jaded heart


dreams, so cruelly, ripped apart

ripped apart


and now

left with the aftermath

and the necessary melody of

sepia silence

"Winter Sun"

Hope is

grey-blue skies,

warmed by

winter sun.