Trust
I grasp what was mine with
Ten ton tendrils that have
Fishhooks for fingers and hold
Nostalgia like a rusted anchor,
Gasping in the air that lies
Between two stars.
I swim in salt water but breathe
Smooth and slow and alive.
Everything that has ever left me I
Have tattooed with desperate claw marks.
Everything that stayed - I swallowed whole.
How far from humanity can a human
Get before we begin mythologising?
I tried to be tolerant,
But they took my story from me
Like the ocean washes away words written
In the sand. I was never stone to them.
But I was never a monster, a siren or a ghost.
I just didn’t want to be left again.
Showcased at Trust Inspiration by Jacob Smith
Phlegethon
When she’s sat in the dark
I light myself like a candle
Burn away the shadows
Till she’s sitting in the sunshine
The only problem with candles
Is that in order to glow
They have to burn themselves away
But when she’s sat in the dark
I swear
It takes everything in me
Not to set the world alight
Just to see her smile
Won Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award
Rose
The rose you watered so carefully
Blooms in late spring
A delicate pink like seashells
A pretty little thing
It waits and waits for your return
And still, it waits in vain
I haven’t the heart to water it
Yet it drowns in the rain
Published in Between These Shores Literary and Arts Annual
Gaps
She lay
And where she lay, the magic grew
Silver tears water the forest
And from her scars grow flowers
Moss fixes broken bones
Ferns are growing in the pit of her stomach
And grass weaves with her fear
From much pain and suffering
Beauty does appear
From the gaps within her lonely heart
She created a new world
For those with broken dreams
To grow away their hurt
Published in Between These Shores Literary and Arts Annual
Dark
I trace her tender skin with my fingers
Running over white lightning bolts
That slash across the paper-thin surface
Of her arms
I trace up and over her shoulders
And chart the spine that slips
Down the centre of her back
I smooth over her thighs, thighs that touch
Naughty thighs
Along the cavernous hips that rise and fall
Roll and ripple across her stomach that lies
Sunken in her fragile frame
And wonder how anyone could look at her in malice
Even through a pane of glass, even a reflection
Published in Pure Slush
I know a place
I know a place
Where flowers have to grow through cracks in the concrete
And birds must compete with the planes
Where the sun rises above great buildings
And sinks below smoke and flames
And at night
A graveyard of stars is hidden
By the lights of cars and homes
And life is not lived by people
But by machines and drones
So let us run away together
And be wild and free
Let our souls be scattered by the wind
And our thoughts be open-minded
So that we may make everything beautiful
Published in Bollocks to Brexit
Published in the league of poets Biggest Anthology of Poetry 2020
The game was won
The game was won
Pawn versus king
Every other piece had been taken
With bated breath we watched
As the orchestrator of war
Threw up his hands
And the world saw a man
Who let the whole board die for him
But wouldn’t kill for them
And the pawns cheered
When they realised
That they could take the king
Published in Between These Shores Literary and Arts Annual
Published in Bollocks to Brexit