You
Paint yourself in corners
And you
Leave so little room
To breathe
To think
To be
You.

He will take you riding in his car
He won't ask questions
Just let you hang your hair out
Like you did when you were young
He will take you places where you want to go
But where you never wanted to be
Let night time hide your memories
You wanted one more chance
To make every bad thing good
To leave you in these rougher woods
It freezes sometimes at night.

It's over my head
A pool so deep
The ground has eaten
Up the sandy bottom
Splash
Watch the light die
Watch the fish fly
I wish I
Could swim.

Roll on
Grey Cadillac
Sleek suburban crocodile
Slide through tar-seal rivers
Purring tires
Friendly winds
Ruffling faces
The muffled grunt
Of a well-fed beast
And off round the bend

Why is emptiness so heavy?

Did you give up on you somewhere?
Decide it was the thing to do
Nobody seems to care
So it's only up to you
Just a tiny little night
Kill that tiny little light
The shadows are too small to see.

Hellos are the saddest goodbyes
When you use your heart for string
To tie him up so tight
Because you are letting go
You can't just let him go

Roll your eyes to sleep
It's not a lie between the sheets
Love is measured out
Why do you murder your doubts?
It's freedom that you seek
So you won't admit you're weak

A single little night burns
Hard against the curtains
Of your smoke-damaged heart
You say you won't look back
But you've only got eyes
On the back of your head

I'm sorry if you hate me
For not letting you just sleep

Life
Too heavy
To breathe

They say
You think with your brain
But I can't think anyway
Cause my heart's not in it.

Wow

As of this post. I have posted as many poems/posts in this year alone
As I did in every single other year to date.

I would like to thank my students for inspiring be back into poetry, it's been a huge pleasure and sometimes a huge pain. But I hope I'm a slightly better person for it.

I'm sorry I couldn't be there to collect my award in person, my agent will be dropping by to pick it up right after he runs the kids to school.

Thanks heaps.

And to celebrate: A silly (lame poem)


MORNING HAS BROKEN

Morning has broken
Somebody dropped it
Making the coffee
For waking them up
I am not paying
So they can replace it
Morning has broken
It wasn’t my fault

Sweep up the pieces
And maybe try glue it
When that fails, bin it
Or blow it all up
Because it’s so useless
In small pointy pieces
Morning has broken
Like a cheap china cup

Morning has broken
Why didn’t they listen?
I told them to put it
Well out the way
I reached for the kettle
Bumped it with my elbow
Morning has broken
What a horrible day.

He held his breath
Through all these years
And prayed
One day
She'd finally come true.

I... I... I...
The hardest lie
I never left unsaid

Confusion
Is exhaustion
With his hood
Pulled low

I seem to have lost
My bubbling laughter
Have you seen it?

One of life's real pleasures
Hugging a mug in chilly fingers
Letting the violent cold leech away
And watch the prayers for a good day
Rise with the gentleness of steam.

In dreams it seemed the perfect solution
But dreams always evaporate like the real thing
Leaving a half-glass of emptiness
And shadows in a sun-tired eye

It's a small thing
A thought that slides
Between each deep breath
Hanging on like
It's the most natural thing
All the brooms dusting cobwebs
Won't shake it down
My badge of sadness

Lessons

Seeing the joy
Of small blessings
It tastes of happiness
And salt.

We all lose our slippers sometimes
And the steps are slick with frost
Prince charming isn't always on his way
Before we realise what we've lost

Midnight arrives with grim precision
Cuts like a knife through butter dreams
But the dance was so enticing
Though the dress has tattered seams

A pumpkin's all you need of freedom
When magic trickles through the air
Don't let hope slip through your fingers
Just from waiting, scrubbing stairs.

Meh

An eternity
Crouching disguised
As a syllable.

Eternal sunshine burns
I blink and look away
I couldn't see for tears
Anyway.