Friday 31 December 2010

the promise



remember
last year
this time
when all of that mattered?

think about
next year
this time

when none of this will.

Saturday 25 December 2010

keepsakes



the song was now tied to her
to the thought. the memory. the sound. the feel.
the scent. the
touch
of
her.

and after today. after what came next
he knew he'd never be able to listen to it.
not even the chords of it
ever
again.

Monday 6 December 2010

the apology





















You knew it was selfish when you said the words

and you felt them drop
echoing hollowly
in the chasm you'd created


And for all that you expected the emptiness,
there were still mascara stains on your pillow that night.


But you'd say those words again if you had to.
Because sometimes, it's not about dealing.
It's about finding a way to let go.

Tuesday 30 November 2010

of tao and te



they wandered along
winding corridors. hidden passageways
losing their footing
stumbling...

until they stopped
waited
listened

let their eyes see beyond the darkness in front of them.

and then they knew
that even though they were lost,
they were somewhere.

and in that, they found they were free.


Monday 22 November 2010

signal failure



she tried. again. to find the words

but they were lost.

like she was back then
like they were to each other now

and the clocks ticked on
and the time passed by
until suddenly it was too late.

she knew the words wouldn't fit
even if she happened to find them

she knew he couldn't hear her from a world and a lifetime away

Monday 15 November 2010

the regret




















And now you're hiding.

eyes screwed up tight, tighter
fingers jammed into your ears
leave me alone!

But the memories won't be blinded, and you can't deafen the screaming when it's coming from within. And you know you made these choices, you chose the path that lead you here.

And you can't run away from yourself.



Wednesday 10 November 2010

how flowers bloom from pavement cracks



these words may break in
places. they may

jar and
stop.

they may not always make much sense.
but they always mean something

they mean a depth. an honesty. a resilience. a
hope.

they mean that even when there is
nothing
left

there is still the penchant to
pick up this pen and
say so.

Monday 1 November 2010

when the storyline began


sometimes, my memory forgets

the lines between the years blur
and there we were (are?)
a hazy snap-shot
hand-in-hand

my pigtails and your mary-janes
leonardo and april
sunburnt on the beach while the fire keeps you warm
and the same song playing in both our backgrounds

my memory forgets
that ours is a new chapter, only recently begun
and your name should not appear on those early pages

and yet, there it is
in a different book
in a different place
in a different time

but somehow
it's the same story.




Monday 25 October 2010

when learning to fly



fall.

but not like you have before.
fall to find your depth,
to reach the flow that is stronger than you,
that is the true purpose of You.

be like the rain
falling downwards

soaring towards the sea


Thursday 21 October 2010

the ball and chain

And there were choices to make.

There was the blissful carefreeness of it all,
the weight of no world but my own,
burdened by no day-to-day pattern,
bound to no wretched routine.

But it was empty.
And the emptiness had to be filled.







And so I chose this shackled path.
Better bound,
than alone.






Monday 11 October 2010

the fighting of the dawn



tomorrow
this sun will set
this sky will fade and
life will use our plans to push us far apart.

but for now. for tonight
can we just sit here
can we sail together on this ship along De-nial


Tuesday 5 October 2010

the words that aren't good-bye



At the parting of the ways
we turned
paused
listened a while

fading echoes of
the laughter
the whispers
the tears
the promises

the moments that brought us to this one.

Our paths are different now
and where you go I cannot come
but here in this moment
the lifetime we shared
is infinite.




Tuesday 28 September 2010

parenthesis



histories aren't made
in years
in months
in days
in minutes

histories aren't even made in moments.

they're made here
in between the moments

in words. unsaid but felt.
in smiles. subtle but understood.
in dreams. unexplained but always shared.

that's where the histories of us were made
and that's where, engraved in time, you must know they will stay


Tuesday 21 September 2010

but that was just a dream



and we didn't say a word
and we didn't do a thing
and the world just swarmed around us
becoming a distant, hazy blur

and your thoughts echoed in my ears
and your fingers traced along my skin
and your arms were there to steady me

even before i knew i would fall

Wednesday 15 September 2010

the insignificance


"But I'm afraid," she whispered.
"They did not care when I was here; they will not notice when I'm gone."

So you stayed a while, and fought the Loneliness.
And when you left, she was no bigger than before. But the shadows she stepped out of had diminished.





Thursday 2 September 2010

moving forward is the only way back



it's not how you come back from this that counts.

it's how you leave.
what you choose to carry with you

it's who you are
who you'll always be
in this moment

that will make every other moment still to come.


Thursday 26 August 2010

the prism


And when the world starts to fade
and the fiery reds burn to ash
and you can't see the colours anymore

Understand.
That it's not the world that's fading
but you that's standing in the light.






Friday 13 August 2010

if left unread, this ink will fade



and all she was now
(all she'd ever been)
was a line
in a story
on a page
of a book
on a shelf
in a room
that was locked.

and he knew he'd never have the key.


Friday 6 August 2010

stage one: denial


Inside of my head, we talk for hours.
All day, and well into the night.
Converse about everything and nothing, stupid non-events, stupider co-workers.
Whisper the dreams we're still scared to believe in.
And we laugh.
So much laughter.

It's just so easy, you know, because that's how it always was.
We never ran out of things to say.
So we just keep sharing.
The connection's still so strong.
Inside of my head.


Of course, every morning I wake up.
And you didn't call.
And you don't miss me.


But we'll talk about that soon, I know.
Inside of my head.



Wednesday 28 July 2010

what we lose along the way



back then

a sandpit was your oasis
a dirt road, your wild west
an old tyre, the 4x4 you would use to cross the world

now you have
your island holidays
your flashy cars
your shiny new toys

your things.

now you've bought your dreams-come-true
but really. you've sold [out on] the dream.


Wednesday 21 July 2010

the things they'll never see
















You saw Me when I couldn't.

My sight is clear now,
so let me show you You.






Wednesday 14 July 2010

the memento



he still remembered every detail
the way the water looked
the way the trees tilted in the slight summer breeze
the way, for once, even the hoards of tourists didn't vex her
the way those books smelt.
and now he's alone. but the memory still takes him there.
when the waters move
when the trees dance
when the tourists laugh. and their cameras flash.
when he falls upon a random page
and the scent is like a portkey back


Thursday 8 July 2010

aftermath

She hesitated there, unsure if she could go on.
You stood silently behind, watched her battle the fear. And when the victory came, it was all you could do not to follow.


Sunday 4 July 2010

but...



I'm not attached to you.

I'm just attached
to your attachment to me.


Tuesday 29 June 2010

the error

There was Darkness, 
for a while.



And I lost my way.


Beneath my feet the
ground was gone
The earth was spinning
(faster, FASTER)


I fell.


I didn't think you'd find me.





Wednesday 23 June 2010

the misstep notes



maybe it's not that we sing different songs.
maybe our words are exactly the same

but we just play them to a different beat.

so
where i'm slow, you're fast
where i'm whimsical, you're strong
where i linger and pause, you rush far ahead

and where we could make beautiful music
we get stuck.
in a clinking. clanging. banging. mess.

dissolving this would-be symphony
into a hum of cluttered riffs


Tuesday 8 June 2010

eclipse

















She paused for a moment, delicately perched between what Was and what Would Be. So fragile, she seemed; a wee wisp of rainbowcloud dreams, a lifetime yet to begin living.

But the Light shifted and you glimpsed, in that fleeting shadowmotion, the steelfrost core at the center of the dream. 

And when the Light returned, she was gone.




Friday 28 May 2010

the outskirts of us



she thinks about the first time she met him, and how she thought she saw something there behind his eyes

the spark
the soul
the one

but now she looks at him again and sees it was only a mirrored reflection she mistook for a sign.

it was only him-looking-at-her that made the light

and now that he looks away
his world is darkness

but with a blindness even he can't see.


Monday 17 May 2010

the choice

so i have
to let go
because
if i stay now
not knowing
if you'll stay with me
there may come a day
when
i won't be able
to find
my way back
alone


Tuesday 11 May 2010

the castle in the sky



sometimes we
miss what's right in front of us.

especially if we're always
straining our eyes

constantly
looking towards the horizon.

looking for things we
know will never come.

instead of
reaching out and
holding onto
the ones we
already have.

Tuesday 4 May 2010

the mistake
















There's a moment when you can't remember how you got here. 
Why you came here at all. Did you make these choices?
So much easier when there's someone else to blame.
But you're standing here, so you must have. And now you can't quite remember how to breathe.

But there's nowhere else to go.

Thursday 29 April 2010

the light that is.



I know we're not there yet. I know that there is still darkness ahead. That there are barriers. And obstacles. And people who will try and stop us.

But I also know that there is a path through all of that. That the island of dreams looms just beyond the invisible distance. And that right now, somewhere, the sun is rising.

Tuesday 20 April 2010

the dream























some days
you just want to
float along the swirling waters
drift away on a wisp of silvery cumulonimbus

only to return

with fragments of stardust in your tangled hair
and the fading sunhaze lost too far behind your eyes





Wednesday 14 April 2010

afterwards



she came back looking for her chalked-on pavement fairytales,
merry-go-round horses and
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
dreams.

but this time the story ended before she had time to jump.

only the rain came down.
melting sunshines and rainbows into the grey cement floors that cracked beneath her feet.

Wednesday 7 April 2010

the freedom























I'm afraid of the loneliness
if you leave.



But the truth is, I'll be lonelier if you stay.

Thursday 1 April 2010

the long way home



There's a lot that stands between us now.
Years and time
Distance and space
God and science

Expectations.

And even though we no longer look the same
I still have your hands

And maybe that will count
One day
When we both need to reach out and hold onto something real.

Thursday 25 March 2010

the way out

















Oneday, they came to a hidden room, packed full of the words they used to exchange. Most were old, softened, worn in all the familiar, comfortable places. And the soft light of a lifetime shared lingered, warming even the deepest shadows.

"How did these get here?" he wondered.
"It doesn't matter," she replied. "We won't need them where we're going."

Sunday 14 March 2010

the reality























We're making a graveyard together, you and I.

For all the messages you're not sending
And all those hours we're not speaking.
A silent tombstone for every day we're not connecting.


Do you believe in resurrection?

Monday 8 March 2010

those rocks that melt away



sometimes, there are people who leave your life to carry on down the roads they must take. but still, they stay with you, in that special aortic crevice carved out just for them. but othertimes, there are those who stay with you while they leave. detaching. slowlysilently. one string. one notch at a time. taking one step forward but two steps back. going before you can say gone. and leaving in seeming flash, when there's no longer a safety-line you could grip to help you stop the fall.

Wednesday 3 March 2010

two sides

She fiddles with the bowl of sugar cubes in front of her, thinking
'If happiness could be cubed and packaged into bite size bits like these, life would be a better place.'



He pushes the sugar bowl away, taking a sip from his steaming cup of double espresso, thinking 'Some things are just better dark and bitter.'


Thursday 25 February 2010

the return

















"Your journey will be long," you told her. "You will face many dangers. Some, you will overcome. But the Dark holds much that is Unknown."

"How will I find my way back Home?" she wondered.

"Perhaps you'll no longer want to," you replied.


You couldn't tell her that you were still searching.
And that there weren't any signs.






Sunday 21 February 2010

just not yet



one day, we'll sit beside our flower beds and watch the birds make homes from our trees

one day, we'll be happy with the lives we got to live
the shores that welcomed us
the broken hearts we patched and mended
the smiles and hopes we found
the memories we made into moulds that still hold us

one day when this is over.
and all that's left is a courtyard of windows
and the two of us watching our memoirs float on by

Monday 15 February 2010

the fear


She pushed open the door, and peered into the Dark.
"I can't see you," she whispered.
(She couldn't remember why you took away her Light, and left her there, faltering.)
"You promised I'd find you here."
(She didn't know you were afraid.)

The door shut quietly behind her.
And you were the one left alone.




Sunday 7 February 2010

beneath it all



The leaves will rust. And they will fall.
They will crumble. And they will die.
They will become part of the earth that bore them.
Just as you and me.
There's a pattern to this madness, if we just could take a look.
There's a circle at the centre. And a meaning to the end.
We just haven't got there yet.

Sunday 31 January 2010

the stories we tell ourselves



I wear this letter around my neck because I need a bit of you to hold onto. And I know it's just reaching. Reaching into nothingness and trying to make alchemy out of base metals that were never even there.

But sometimes we need our lies. Even the ones we tell ourselves.

Sometimes, those are the ones we need to hold onto most of all.

Monday 25 January 2010

listen















What will you do when they start fading?
When the colours begin to blur, and the lights go out?
There are new pictures on your walls now. And you hear different voices everyday.

But somewhere far behind your eyes, the music hasn't changed. No-one can hear the tunes you play, but that doesn't matter. You don't need them.

But you will.
When the music stops.

Wednesday 20 January 2010

waiting for amnesia



Oneday:
I'll look back, and the hurthaze will have cleared.

I'll see the eyes I loved to drown in
(I won't remember the shutters you put up)
The way your smile sounded
(before you stopped calling)
And the peace that radiated from your soul
(until your missing backbone became obvious)


But not this day.
(not yet)