Behind the Chosen Door

Behind each door

waits an option,

but the choice itself happens

standing in front,

and there is no way to know

which decision is right

until the chosen door clicks shut

and locks away

what otherwise might have been,

and the odds are played out

without chance to try again.

Pickings

Be the pickings slim,

or be this a buffet,

the choice is not tricky,

and the morsels and

courses and portions

are mine with which

to be picky.

Suddenly / Catch of the Day

Suddenly,

I begin to realise –

with each bite you take

– that I am not made

to be leftovers:

I am the catch of the day.

In Half, Completely

Do not live with half pleasures.

Do not try in half measures,

Do not give just half treasures.

Exist completely out loud.

Either Way, Continue

Is this just for hearing,

or is an answer required?

Either way,

I will get it wrong,

and you will continue speaking.

But a Prison

Those are not curtains,

they are bars.

These keys are not to let you in,

but to lock you in.

That is not a garden,

it is a yard for your briefest freedom.

This is not a house,

but a prison.

There is Misery

Perhaps you feel the need

to be affronted;

there is safety in numbers

when each one is a complaint –

misery loves company,

and those are some of the best.

Kaleidoscope

Take a deep blue breath;

cry a rich orange tear.

Feel with hands of forest green;

listen to the yellow in the air.

Cut yourself open

for darkest purple flowing;

step forward with slate grey footprints.

Shout out your violet curses;

take another deep blue breath.

Feel everything in colour,

taste across the spectrum,

and remember black and white,

for this is a kaleidoscope of light.

Tell Me It’s My Job

Tell me you’re frightened,

like it’s my job to protect you.

Tell me you’re worried,

like it’s my job to make you feel calm.

Tell me you’re sad,

like it’s my job to cheer you.

Tell me you’re hurting,

like it’s my job to shield you from harm.

Every Second Makes Your Chest Hurt

Every second is a deep breath

that makes your chest hurt

and turns dizzy

the balance in your head.

Sound

The sound is pounding;

the sound is hounding me;

The sound is grounding here;

the sound dumbfounding be.

Ball, Caught / Rock, Bleeding

One of us

is a ball meant to be caught;

one appears to be,

but is nothing more than a rock

which will inevitably knock out

your teeth;

all the points

are to be won with me,

all the bleeding

to be done with the other.

Feel / Felt / Feels

You are in the world again,

and I feel odd for a moment,

but then

I realise it doesn’t matter,

because the circles of our globes

have only the slightest

overlap,

and I have stayed out in the world

all this time anyway,

and felt better

than your heart ever feels

in the world where you

currently stand,

or could feel in any world

you might try to travel to,

because

only one has me standing in it,

and everywhere else you are

alone.

Trying

I am

like the

Greek myth,

trying to roll the

boulder up the hill,

but in this version, you

stand at the top and push

the rock down, and when it

reaches the bottom, I am crushed.

Remember Not One

Remember when the films would run,

calls would come;

days would be spent in the sun.

I can hardly recall,

not one detail at all;

the memories now are too small.

Slumber Made to Wait

Every night,

this slumber is made to wait,

for you

to first take your sleep,

so that it might know

your mind is resting,

but to have you

realise the patience of this gift

would be nothing less than

a dream,

the kind not even the deepest sleep

can bring to life.

Infinite List

Continue adding to the list of things

which are entirely unseen,

or unappreciated,

and you would be better off writing

the symbol for infinity,

if only to save time,

and pretend

the list is not so endless.

Descending

When a plane is falling,

the beginning is already

too late,

and you need no one to tell you

that you are descending,

because you already know,

and not saying it out loud

will do nothing

to stop it from

crashing.

Thread

If you pull at the thread

of this thing

that keeps you warm,

you will have more thread,

of course,

for now,

until all you have is thread,

and not the thing which

keeps you warm.

Luck and The Snap of My Spine

For a moment I wonder

if you realise your luck,

but then I remember

that of course

you don’t –

the rabbit’s foot

you seem to hold

is actually

a chunk of my hair,

and the clovers are but nettles;

the horseshoe is a weapon,

and the snap

comes not from a wishbone,

but from

the breaking

of my backward-bent spine.

Drained

Every day,

a lake is drained

of every drop it holds,

just for its many treasures

to be stolen

without thought or gratitude,

and with a promise to be

refilled,

that never does come true.

What If Another World Begins

What if another world begins,

and from that world

comes living things?

What if that place has rivers?

One runs from somewhere

already known;

the other leads to where

new things might grow.

What if that planet

has land for the taking,

and living things

might do memory making?

What if a new world

can only exist,

if an old one is crushed

by a universe fist?

All then left is a history,

standing on atoms

and frozen in time –

nothing more than a mystery;

remembered little,

now only in rhyme.

What if another world did start,

and from its bang,

this is torn apart?

What if that is needed?

All here is made of stars now –

always is and will be somehow;

the dust may well be filled with sadness,

or glad that destruction

has freed it from madness.

What if it would grieve

its death?

But what if another world begins,

and from that world

comes living things?

Ask Not

Ask not,

if unprepared for honesty.

Ask not for advice,

to be ignored;

nor for opinion,

to be questioned.

Ask not for warmth,

to be met with cold;

nor for entertainment,

to be unenjoyed.

Ask not for more,

to be rewarded with less;

nor for anything,

to be offered nothing.

Ask not,

or risk to be answered.

Object

The role of the object,

is not to be objective.

Do not ask it to be fair,

nor rational,

nor quiet,

when it has naught but function

and your use of it

is unfair

and rash

and quite as you wish.

All That is Granted

All that is asked

to be given

is gratitude.

All that is asked

not to be taken

is for granted.

Some Are Days for Guest Starring

Some are days

for guest starring,

auditions bearing fruit

for brief moments of fame.

Some days are

only to be witnessed:

no call to the stage

or name in lights;

no face remembered long.

Some are days

made only for sitting

in darkness

on uncomfortable chairs

with everyone else –

just as if you had never

played the lead.

Cell Mate / There is Freedom

Those keys are not for doors,

but for cuffs;

those windows have bars.

There is no escape

behind artwork;

the cracks in your floorboards

are twinned to your scars.

Yours is a cell mate

and nothing greater;

outside is freedom:

take it sooner or later.

Tell Me Nothing At All

Tell me your lies

and make me believe them.

Better to hear

their false truth than

nothing at all.

Pretend

At least pretend.

Let that be a gift.

Tap

Here,

a dripping tap,

unchanging,

that mocks

the desperate thirst

of all those

who

drink from it.