1.vine-scratched scars are left to hang
tokens of an untouched surface
motion spins dirt from rushing feet
my ears ring from hissing
in a mind built from fangs
2.glass bubble lines
sink slowly lower
for a moment,
lungs rise above their drowning
a sip to taste amnesia
that leaves again
too soon
3. I slip on bus route rivers
an unclaimed traveller
running without a path
in the eye of rapids,
I welcome the fall
arms wide to open sea
4. I can’t see a storm
but I feel like thunder
nerve-struck lightning
in vacant sky
I feel the air as flight
I ride the breath
of dimming sun
5. stride in the strength of denial
stride in the lie of comfort
stride past question-mark streetlamps
irrational into dark
I will see myself burn
before the world burns around me
6. I held our light
empty in unbuilt walls
in ruins,
I saw myself as rubble
from brick, from clay
from dust
I tore myself to towers
7. sun streams in as a constant
morning chasses its tail
we learn to shift its rays
let new life flick on hardened skin
let it creep slow
through aging windows
reach out in front of you
touch the glass
8. we boxed up our fear
packed it tight in risk
ran past the edge of sight
holding fire,
we rode on fading warmth
knowing that flames die out
9. we re-homed my shaken spirit
scratched joy over fear
and ignored the shadow
we grafted shoots of ready life
on the site of old wounds
10. a tickled petal
picked new
I swim, giddy
in an empty glass
I forget my need for water
until I start to wilt
11. I beg for rain
forge storms along my skin
I seek the weight of cold,
so I might remember feeling
in frosted shivers,
I am here
12. trapped stagnant
in suffocating sameness
the call of change burns my ears
a spell cast in splattered dye
success declared in stains
I am what I was not
13. home of an unknown catalyst
conflict rolls in cycles
midnight mistakes
dragged in quick steps
I am here, again
and never should have been
14. 3.00 AM
washed in a sudden need
to be clean
soap whirls in thudding suds
I reach for the desperate dream
of controlling my own hands
15. we walk away, side by side
hands held at the scratches
denying our wounds
we cling to the light we share
we smile at sun-baked shells
for one more day
we pretend we never broke
16.we are told not to photograph ourselves
by people who don’t want us to believe
that we are art
17.
clocks and kettlesto fill the space you left
walls remain too bare
I paint my eyes in blue
I paint to hide from blinking
18. the sky split down the middle
storms roaring into sun
I saw light caught on rocks
I sank in rain-soaked grass
19. I want stories that trail away
endings lost in fading light
all cobwebs and speculation
in the absence of knowing,
I want belief
the idea of something more
20. burnt citrus seconds
minutes in mint
tingling skin
I am fresh as lemon
memory leaves in blurs
replaced by motion
21. captured bright
beauty fades in captivity
I keep myself caged
I fight the need to run
I am trapped in a wish
with blistered frames
I want colour that shifts in sun
forever too new for a name
22.pain bites music into silence
found past bars of sleeping quiet
pain fuels new lyrics to rise
23/24.acceptance shelters longing
clouds hover late
hanging beyond their rain
I covet dripping frost
over warmth that dries too stale
