When I speak
no-one
believes me
When I write
they decide
what is true

Amended 4 June 2014

Appearances can be
deceptive
words
are not
misoginistic
but really
reflective
of ability
to make
anything
work

We sit
in my favourite restaurant
as it closes down
around us

you
me and
our disagreements
a family outing
known well to the staff

Amended 15 May 2005

I cut out my heart
with rusty secateurs
one Sunday
in a break from trimming the roses

The pages of my
address book
are printed

on pages that contain
a tiny vaccuum
in which there’s another world

the smallest of
pricks
from the pen’s nib
would pierce the shell
and this universe would
implode

and
that’s why
for safety
my book contains
no names

Amended 15 May 2005

The clatter of the keyboard is like
tacks
being impressed one by one by one by one
into my brain
sticking down the words on the eventual page
so that they don’t wash away
when its home time

Amended 15 May 2005

If you’d realised
how I felt
would you have
changed

Amended 15 May 2005

The phone doesn’t

ring

ring, ring            s

                         e

the email       c

              b  n

               ou

and
u don’t txt
when
life, more real
gets in the way

When they look at you
the eyes
burn into you

hypnotic

so you can do nothing but
look back

regressive, at
the closed off route

of escape

Amended 15 May 2005, 21 July 2014

When she smiles
as light as day
the angels sing
halleluiah
and fall from
their clouds

Amended 15 May 2005