#940 (haiku)

rebellion calling
inevitable return 
to the brighter side

clandestine

secret heart 
feeds on scars
while i'm busy
looking the other way
veins of invisible ink
thread sorrowful songs
through the underground
of my flesh
while i'm disappearing

love/hard

i want a kitchen love
a doing the dishes on a wednesday morning love
kept alive through laughter 
i want a loungeroom love
a watching stand up comedy in our pyjamas love
kept alive through kindness
i want a bathroom love
a brushing our teeth at the same sink kinda love
kept alive through desire

obedience

frightened women
are compliant
too busy slimming
sculpting and saving
themselves for
a cage called marriage

future people

this land we walk upon
she is keening
weighted down by pain
she persists
but we make it harder
with our violence
and our greed
and our wastefulness
this land we walk upon
she is grieving
she cries out for reprieve
but we are deaf

single woman

she has a switch in her hips
and a hankering for 
strong hands
to hold onto
when the nights get blue
she has silver in her palms
and a penchant for
pretty eyes
to gaze into
when the days get long
she has ink on her lashes
and a longing for
steady limbs
to cling onto
when the weeks get rough

gravity

soaring up here
on the descant
is lonely
looking for an
anchor of harmony
to help me land

thrice

three times i brush my teeth
three times i bite my tongue 
three times i cut my lips
trying to forget them
three times i wash my hands
three times i crack my knuckles
three times i scratch my palms
trying to be better
three times i shave my legs
three times i change my socks
three times i tie my shoes
trying to keep living

four a.m. again

every twinge leads me to the edge
desperate to be drowned
in forgetfulness
 

unholy mess

when you say you wanna have your guts rearranged i can't help but cringe, see 
because that's exactly what they did to me
they played the part of butchers
sliced away the sweetmeats
shanked my spine
and left a carcass

poets

artists turned alchemists
playing with reactions
searching for magic
in one another

kimono (haiku)

weeknights in silken
somnolent embraces
make me luminous

do better

shake off the shame
and let the lesson in
you can be kinder
 

thursday/january

sitting on stone walls
where memories call
out from the mortar
and across the street
a santa claus lingers
long forgotten 
listless in an upstairs
window of a building
project poised for
a new life

cover to cover

we scribe in triplicate

all the things

we can’t say out loud

we speak through touches

and teeth

but he doesn't bite

worse, he savours

every serrated edge

of my armour

a snake of sweat

is all that separates

his hands and the

spectres that surround me

our infatuation

rewritten as affection

and indexed under joy

transcribing my instincts

he has made me a

harlot languishing restless

for his honeyed tongue

a calligrapher of daring

moves along my spine

paints me with desire

my reckless heartsong

is rapid percussion

he sings tone circles

syncopates a connection

our bodies bound

polyrhythmic pulse

travelling unmapped desires

strike a new backbeat 

he leaves me breathless

speaking tongues with untidy

tattooed calling cards

we scribe in triplicate

all the things

we can’t say out loud

we speak through touches

and teeth

now, then, always

when it's all
gone back to black
i take my shoes off
and raise my voice
i let my body
do the screaming
and my head 
do the aching
to save my
heart the trouble

smoke

i wanna talk about love
but our house is on fire
i wanna talk about hope
but our house is on fire
i wanna talk about peace
but our house is on fire

forward

jumped in the deep end
landed on his spitfire honesty
scorched but otherwise
unscathed
put myself back together
and marched on