Category: Textual Encounters

Feel Something

Feel something

Anything

Just something

I breathe the words

Into your zombie like mind

Powerful

Strong

Heartfelt

I breathed the words

Into you

To shake you up

To stop you self destructing

Or, at the very least

To bring you back

From the brink

Of nothingness

The emptiness you feel

Through childhood trauma

And then, as your adult life

was threaded through that,

always got you thinking,

you are worthless

Never good enough

You tuned out

when you were young

And you kept up

the self defence

Mechanism

Even when it wasn’t needed or beneficial

because that is nature

You did what you had to do

to survive

You tuned out.

But now…

Things are bad aren’t they?

You’re losing the plot.

Are you dying?

Feel something

Feel something

I said it over and over again

And the shock and surprise

on your face

As you were shaken

From your stupor

Was dramatic

Shock. Surprise.

Be shocked. Be surprised.

Wake up

Feel Something.

Thank you Ma’am

The Queen has gone to heaven

The King now reigns on earth

He has known that this would happen

It was planned straight from his birth

Seventy years on the throne

Steadfast, strong and never loud

Wise and gentle, like a friend

Thank you Ma’am, you did us proud

You left us just as summer ended

Where you are going, you won’t need a coat

You’re off to pastures green and new

I’ll miss you on the twenty pound note

I’ll miss your calm demeanour

I’ll miss your consistency

I’ll miss your beautiful smile

There are many millions like me

The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree

But leaders like you, can there be others?

I hope and pray King Charles The Third

That your reign is as great as your mothers.

There was a horrible face at the window

There was a horrible face at the window

It was a face of enormous self doubt

It said, ‘I’m getting married tomorrow

Will my beloved be going without?’

I said, ‘Explain, please do. I’m confused.’

They said, ‘Woe is me. I’m lost. All at sea.

I’m afraid I don’t have the heart

And for their heart, I don’t have the key.’

‘It’s okay, I see what’s going on here.

Come in and take a seat

It’s all a storm in a teacup

I think you’re just getting cold feet.’

They said, ‘I can’t see the future too clearly.

I think I won’t be much good

What if the marriage is all a disaster

And my love is simply a dud?’

‘Your fears are all an illusion

Care not,’ I said, ‘Do not afear.

Your marriage will be a long and good one

I tell you-your cupid is here.’

They said, ‘You don’t understand, I’ve lost the ring!’

‘Oh, so that’s why you’re so low!’

They said, ‘Yes, and it cost a fortune.

They’ll be mad, I am sure, I’ll just go!’

‘No, don’t go in haste, I’ve a plan

Take this bracelet and bend it just so

It’s just tin and worth nothing at all

But if they love you, they won’t say no.’

So they went away and tested the theory

And got married, the horrible face did

And they were happy, ever after, from then on

And we both kept the secret quite hid

From this day, they are so blissful

They never found the ring though

But whenever they come to visit

There’s a beautiful face at the window.

March To The Beat Of Your Own Drum

The orchestra will try to make you

Change your tune

You don’t have to keep in time

Or even be heard

Above the cacophony

As long as you hear your own music

Feel the rhythm

Love the style

And enjoy the way

It makes you feel

The artistic director may try to

Turn you around

Conduct you

And make you toe the line

Find musicians more to your liking

Ones that share the same tempo

And can keep in time to your beat

As you keep in time with theirs

And let you do a solo now and then

Make and play the sort of music

That allows you to change key

Without warning

It has to be that way

Or, all your life

You’ll be out of tune.

It Happened In The Attic

Below the belt of this old house, it’s cold

Numb and still, and finally, got old

It doesn’t have a creak or moan

There are no stairs in this old home

And in the footsteps, no stories will be told

But the top of this old house, it shines bright

Its restless light won’t allow the night

Electricity-you hear its hum

It can’t switch off, it’s always on

This lonely one, just won’t give up the fight

The action is all happening upstairs

There’s a ghost that sits up there and dares

To dream of things that never came to pass

Of memories, that still hold hard and fast

It’s firing on all cylinders-don’t look down

Hopes and goals could still come back to town

Love could wipe the tears away

Of manic, laughing clowns this day

That in the past, were only going to drown

It happened in the attic, that cold night

Thieves planned to steal, and leave, without a fight

They had thought the job would be

oh, so soft

They hadn’t bargained

on the old one, in the loft

Now inventions, are created, thick and fast

They’ll see the flames explode the attic glass

The sparks they fly, and shake the building too

And they’ll be fireworks for anyone in view

The thieves didn’t get a chance

to steal

And rub on open wounds

that never learned to heal

Now, inside the attic,

there’s a glow

And the warmth into the house,

begins to flow

And bring back life into the soul,

that they all said,

was abandoned, boarded up, and left for dead.

I Hope Your Troubles Don’t Hurricane Your Life

I hope your troubles

Don’t hurricane your life

I hope extreme emotional turbulence

Doesn’t undo you.

I hope you overcome

The hurricanes of life

And they don’t define you

Or make you bitter and twisted

Or frighten you

Or unkind you

And make you indifferent

Uncaring

Or apathetic

But as with most things

Hurricanes disperse

I hope your hurricanes

Drift along

Expend energy harmlessly

Into the ocean

And melt off into the mist

Where they can do no harm to no-one

Especially yourself.

Watch it go.

A Safe Haven

A Safe Haven

In the mind

For some

Is a tiny place

A box room

A seven by twelve foot prison cell

No toilet

No light

Infested with cockroaches

But in others

A Safe Haven

Is a beautifully decorated mansion

With fragrant gardens

A peaceful place

A beautiful sunset

A sprawling landscape

Rolling hills

A county

A country

A continent

For some, sanctuary is small

With no room to breathe

Or to turn around

What does it take?

To extent or expand one’s safe haven?

A serene cove

In a quiet harbour

Or a desert

A tundra

How abundant or sparse

Are our safe havens?

If you’re never had a safe haven before

There’s always hope for one

To be written into your world

Painted into your soul

It doesn’t have to be

Just for the few

Self destructive

Self sabotaging minds

Will see their safe havens

Boarded up

And a sign that says

‘Dangerous, derelict building.’

‘Keep Out!’

Sometimes you have to

Open it back up

And renovate

Life is hard enough

Without a safe haven

To call your own

And it costs nothing

In running fees

It’s yours

And yours only

And no-one else’s

A priceless place

A private place

Of time and space

Your sweet, secure

Safe Haven

Slow To Anger

Insults will put you down

If you let them

A jibe here

A stab there

But a criticism

Or an inneundo

Like a rotting wInter leaf

Before spring

Can sail away on the wind

If you’re slow to take offense

It’s tiring to be offended

Day after day

An exhausting round

Of mind games

Of word wars

Of battles that can’t be seen

Blood shed covertly

Will hurt just as much

But they know not what they do

Accept failure of others

Even if they can’t keep their hurt in

Long enough

To keep from hurting you

Sometimes, it’s not personal

If a glass falls

Its many shards will scatter

In all directions

And chances are

One or two willl cross your path

But sometimes, it is personal

Smiles and knives have been sharpened over time

And tipped with poison

With you in mind

Perhaps for many years

And expertedly pointed

At your back

For a well aimed

Well planned

Bullseye!

But whether it’s wrong time, wrong place

Or accidently on purpose

You can nurse a slight all day

And all it does is take away

From what is important

To you and your life.

Be Watchful

Be watchful of wolf

In sheep garments

And wary of sheep

In wolf attire

Discern motivation

What do people want from you?

Because they will want something.

Money?

Sex?

Power?

Other?

You’re not so much liked

As ‘loved’

Or ‘desired’

Or ‘wanted’

For their pleasure

For their id

For their ‘Dupers Delight’

What can you do for them?

What are they lacking?

What gap can you fill?

Or are you maybe

Simply stalked

And hunted for your fur