Category: poetry

poetry

~ Pirate ~

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~ Pirate ~

I watch my youth come and go
The poems crumble in my mind
And all that is left is this wrinkled being
Watching the days drift by from the balcony
As the sun sets on the Atlantic ocean
And each day a new pain in my heart
Gets buried in the depths.

This time ahead won’t be smooth sailing
I’m heading to the horizon
Wild-eyed and weathered
Drunk and probably deluded.

But I still feel it
That ache for the eternal
This compass pointing to the same place
It always has.

This hunger will never let me go.
This thirst will never let me be.

Forever I drift
Towards something.

Towards nothing.

Towards everything.

poetry

~ A Moment in Time ~

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~ A Moment in Time ~

In my heart I’ll always be there
Dancing with you on a rooftop in Palermo
Holding your hand while walking by the river
Throwing that frisbee to you in the summer sun.

In my heart I’ll always be there
Cuddling with you on a Sunday morning
Staring into your eyes and your soul
Getting lost in that starry universe.

In my heart I’ll always be there
Running my fingers through your hair
Feeling the light burst through me
As my lips touch yours.

I guess I’m never gonna truly let you go
A part of you will exist within me always
And when my last step is taken
And I fall to the floor of this earth
I will look up to the grand sky above
Feeling your love still flowing through me
And I’ll remember those times of pure joy
When everything was perfectly in place
Hoping I could stay in that moment forever

Dancing with you on a rooftop in Palermo.

poetry

~ The Only Way ~

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~ The Only Way ~

I’m sorry, but I can’t be who you want me to be
I know I’ve tried to iron out these creases
To fit my circular shape into a square hole
And I know how wonderful it would be to be with you
To share our journey with love and laughter
But the makeup of myself is something unchangeable.

I thought this time it might be different
With the love of a good woman, I could become sane
I could find a good job and learn to drive and flourish
A regular human-being just like the rest.

But each stride forward just pulls me back
And tells me the inescapable truth
That I do not belong on that side of the street.

My place is here in this broken shack
Lingering with the lost and lonely
Finding my way in the shadows
While writing this poetry.

A part of me has always known this
But your kisses were intoxicating
And like all starved people who get a taste of love
I guess I let delusion get the best of me.

So tonight I finally recognise that this has to come to an end
That the irreparable parts of my character
Now break down this bridge
To leave us standing on separate shores
With only the memory of each other
And at least knowing we tried what others wouldn’t.

But now we know,
That I can’t be who you want me to be,
And that’s okay.

In the end, it’s best for both of us.

In the end,
It’s the only way.

poetry

~ Minimalist ~

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~ Minimalist ~

It was true that I didn’t have many talents in life
At least not ones that could do the important thing: make money
But although lacking in this area
I was blessed with a specific quality
Of just not needing, or even desiring, much.

Just give me a space to sit and meditate in
A pair of shoes to go running in
A basic laptop to do some writing on
And that’s my happiness covered.

Okay, of course, I need food and a roof over my head
But once these things are met
I am as rich as the richest man
In fact, I have what many of the rich don’t have:
I have enough.

Just sitting and staring out the window now
Watching the trees sway in the winter wind
And the birds fly from branch to branch
I sip a coffee and feel a completion
That is greater than any millionaire in a mansion.

How or why would I be motivated
To go and join in the rat race
Working hard for things I don’t want or even need
When pure bliss is available
In the here and now.

A car is just more stress and expense
Much more enjoyable to walk or cycle
My own home is just a burden again
I don’t want to have to pay for a new boiler
Or constantly maintain it
I’d rather just pay some rent.

Maybe I’m just a bum
But I’ve found my own way
To make it through this life
While maintaining some peace
And sense of sanity.

Looking around me
I believe that is more than most.

poetry

~ Who Am I Kidding?~

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~ Who Am I Kidding? ~

Who am I kidding?
Trying to be an ordinary person
Getting my driver’s licence
A girlfriend, a job
A routine.

Who am I kidding?
Dressing up nicely
Tidying my room
And calming the fire inside.

It may be suppressed, at times
Even dwindling
But the spark is always there
Waiting to erupt
And engulf me again.

Some things are inevitable
And who the hell am I kidding
Thinking that there will ever be a time
When I’m not wading through the sewers
And being covered in all the shit
That is now seeped into my soul.

I no longer wish to lie to myself
Only to face the harsh light
That unveils the truth I cannot escape.

Tonight I throw away the mask
And stare into the mirror
Beholding my scarred, scratched flesh
Facing the grim reality
Of my maniacal self.

I was never made to be clean
I was never made to be normal
I was never made to write words
That are different from these.

I was made to linger on the outskirts
To drift in the darkness
And let my own madness
Consume me totally.

This truth is unavoidable
And please, do not pity me
For this act of accepting who you are
Gives one a certain freedom in life.

It’s the freedom of unbolting your own cage
And letting yourself be unrestrained
Wandering in your natural wilderness
Your claws sharpened; your eyes wide.

Your strongest, strangest
Unshakable self.

poetry

~ Listen Here ~

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~ Listen Here ~

Hear this heart sing
Though you try to silence it
And wish me to get in line
Suppressing my spirit
I shall continue to refuse
For I know that sanity of yours
Is slowly killing you
Your tired eyes tell it all
Your soul is screaming for music
And I do not wish to kill my song too
No conformity or career
Will put an end to this
As this grey world continues
You’ll find me dancing within
Where my song plays loud
Shaking the walls and windows
Keeping me thoroughly alive
And no amount of knocking at the door
Will cause this precious symphony
To stop soaring.

poetry

~ Eyes to the Sky ~

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~ Eyes to the Sky ~

I want to say something that has never been said
But the reality is that I’m just another man
Having the same experience of life as many other men
No matter how unique one believes their feelings
They have been experienced before by some other poor fool
Who couldn’t quite make sense of this crazy world
But I’m going to say it anyway:

Born into this fragile skin
I was always going to end up scarred
But I didn’t expect the cuts to go this deep
As I stand here now at the age of thirty-one
Still a shaking, shivering mess inside
Wondering where the hell it is I belong
And how I’m going to find my way through these woods
To finally find my place in the sunlight
That seems to be there beyond the trees
As I look up at that light streaming in,
Its presence teasing me almost.

Perhaps a person was never meant to have it all
But only to get flickers of the good life
Those precious rays that sometimes filter through
That touch the skin and widen the eyes
Before the darkness of the forest returns
And the fight continues.

poetry

~ Spontaneous Saturday Evening Poem ~

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~ Spontaneous Saturday Evening Poem ~

It’s a Saturday evening and I’m home alone
Trying to write a poem
I’m listening to ambient music
Looking at pretty pictures of sunsets
Hoping that inspiration will strike
As the words come flooding onto the page.

It’s a strange process that is hard to explain
But doing this, instead of being at the bar,
Well it gives me the sort of joy
That one only gets when they are in touch
With something spiritual and sacred.

For some reason I decided to be a writer
I’ve been doing it for over ten years now
Nothing has really made much sense to me
Except when I’m organising words together.

School didn’t come naturally
Jobs didn’t come naturally
Social life didn’t come naturally
But for some reason this did.

And that’s why I’m here tonight
Still giving it all that I’ve got
Sailing out on the sea of creative thought
Lowering my net into the depths
And trying to catch a big juicy
200 pound poem to take home
And display on my wall.

For now it appears I’ve only caught this one
Which, admittedly, isn’t my best
But hey, I’m having fun
Typing these words
Jamming out alone
On a Saturday evening.

I’ll think I’ll even crack open a beer
As I keep on sailing on this sea
Doing the thing which puts everything in the right place
Which makes me feel like I’m on that dancefloor
Busting my moves and celebrating life
In all its strange joy.

poetry

~ Free Time ~

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~ Free Time ~

Another weekday
It’s 9pm again
And the temptation to turn on the television
And watch some crap appears.

No, I say to myself
This is the time to create
To write some words
And share some truth.

So here I am back at the keyboard
Persevering with my poems
As my girlfriend learns piano.

What’s the point, I sometimes wonder
It’d be so much easier to sink into a groove
To find some comedy series
And let my mind be numbed
After a long day at work.

It does feel good,
When the odd good poem comes along
But too often it’s just hours
Of staring at the screen
Starting and deleting sentences
Going around and around
In your own mind
Searching for that something
Which you imagine no one else has ever said
As you write the poem that changes the world
That will cause everyone to become enlightened
As the climate crisis is averted
And world peace is finally announced.

In reality, you just type more words
To post onto your blog
To be read by fifteen people
Somewhere around the world
Whom you’ll never meet
Or even message.

Well, look, I guess this is one more poem
The third one of the evening, in fact
I’m not sure if they’re any good
But at least I can feel like I’ve earned
An episode of The Simpsons now.

poetry

~ A Simple Decision ~

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~ A Simple Decision ~

Today I’m making the decision
To let it all go:
All my anger, my mistakes
And my pain.

Today I think I’m going to
Let myself be born again
As I close the book
Of my story so far written
And throw it out the window.

I think I’m going to head outside too
I’m going to stroll down some streets
And look up at the sky
Rather than down at the floor.
I’m going to think of things I’m grateful for
Rather than bemoan mild inconveniences.

I’m going to spend time understanding things
Rather than looking and judging
And I’m going to take my time to think
Before I let words come out of my mouth
To make sure I truly mean them.

I’m going to taste every breath
To drink each one in deliciously
For to be alive and in good health
Is a supreme victory in itself
And I’m going to appreciate
Everything that comes my way
Rather than get lost in thoughts
Which take me away from
The wonderful show in front of me.

Having made this decision,
I already feel considerably better
Like a shot of miracle medicine
Has gone through me
And I realise that a person’s reality
Can be reshaped at any time
As they let go of their pain
As they grow new eyes
As they reopen their hearts
And learn to live again.