Heart Strings (AKA Listen To Yo Mamma)

I can see the strings of your heart
under a skin so thin and translucent
Those blue lines so fine branching out
tie you two together
She’ll show you the ropes
She knows all the bows
and all the knots
and how to unravel the tangle
that life can bind and blind you to
She’ll show you how to play those heart strings
Life’s melody flows (I see it sing)
In you.

Singular

Cell, you’re sole
but nevertheless
essential to the whole
and always more
than the sum of your parts
Taking your toll
when playing your role
Pay to your heart’s contents
(blood, veins, arteries and vents)
a constant source
through the system sent
And when your job is done
some more will come
to take your place
until one day…
none

Sensitive

If I arose one morning and my eyes couldn’t see
I would trace your face with my fingertips
If one night I couldn’t hear a word you said
I would listen through my hands on your lips
If one day my skin couldn’t feel anything
I’d still be touched that you made time for me
If dawn broke, I awoke, and was no longer clairvoyant
that’s cool, you and I have no need for telepathy
If one soon afternoon I couldn’t detect your scent
I’d sniff the air like a bloodhound on your case
If the buds on my tongue one evening went numb
I’d still lick you all over your face

Corrugations

You mark my words
if you must
Red ink
But I think
for once I will do justice
to the memory
So with that in mind
I feel inclined
to start
Now

I said “let’s take it to the top!”
But God knows I was pushed to the dizzy limit
“Pull yourself together!”
That’s what you said to me
So we pulled together
not just ourselves but as one
“Get a grip!”
That’s what you said to me
(I still have your text, and here's what happened next)
So I got a grip real tight
and grabbed your hand
‘cause I’ve never been one to hold my own
in these sort of situations
And the sign said “You Made It!”
And I thought
“that’s bullshit”
It wasn’t until I got back down
that I felt on top of things again
And I will fight each day to never get that far away again

You call to say it is no more (literally)
You call to say you set it on fire (ritualistically)
You say of the monkeys on your back you have one less
(You call to say some bastard stole your fishing gear, but I digress)

I wanna ask, “What’ll you do now?”
I wanna ask “Are you going again?”
Anyway, I guess you’ll be home soon
“See you later, talk to you then”

Broken Bracelet

I shut the door then turned around
It was then I heard the distinctive sound
of spilling beads scattering on the ground
I dropped to the floor. I hoped I’d found
all the parts to make it whole once more
but I was pretty sure there was some left on the floor
Now I look down and my wrist is bare
Not even a mark to show it was there
You connected the clasp, it was never undone
A token trinket of what we’d begun
I much preferred to have it there to stay
than put it away for a special day
At least I got to see it that way
Now I wonder what you’d have to say
I swear to you I never meant to break it hey.

Radtown Song

I’m awake up to you, though you’re only a pipe dream
I feel like the old me (younger version) and it would seem
that I think less of sleep than I have sleepless nights
now that I allow myself fancies and flights
But I better take care along for the ride
We can share the setbacks, and in my stride
we’ll step out together and come what may
For the rest of the year and here to stay

Piercing Haiku

Dude by the train door
Large round hole through left earlobe
Sunlight streams through you

Sibling Riflery (and other acts of random violence from my youth)

I say “I am gonna shoot you”
You say “I’ll catch the bullets with my teeth”
I say “I’m gonna kick in you in the kidney”
You say I haven’t got the reach
I say “I’m gonna head butt you, break your skull”
You say “You’ll come off second best”
I say “I’ll knock the breath out of your lungs”
You say “Ha! not with my rock-solid chest”
I say “I’ll karate kick your shins”
You say “Your foot will snap in half”
I say “I’ll lob a grenade and blow you up”
You say “through my impenetrable fortress? don’t make me laugh”
I say “I’ll knee you in the groin”
That shut you up

Buckley's

Once upon a time
a snowflake took a chance
and went to Hell
in the hope he’d live to tell
the tale
But as we all know
He didn’t have a hope
Nope
Despite being one of a kind
You will find
The result was just the same
as had it been any one of us

Constant Companion

With a shadow of doubt the past casts its silhouette
Its outline stays sharp despite the sun being set
At times its elongated form extends straight out ahead
Or sometimes following behind as if being lead
But whichever way you do look it sticks to you tight
And it doesn’t need darkness and it doesn’t need light
It only needs memories (and you’re in all mine)
Yet even in the shade there’s a little bit of shine
So I’m trying hard to believe that a light will always shimmer
Even if a shadow of doubt will be created by its glimmer

Lifted

It feels all kinds of wrong when I see the moon during the day
There are just some things that should not be this way
I know to every thing there is supposed to be a season
But to me, some of them just do not stand to reason
Why do we call it milk if it does not come from an animal?
Why do people who do the most get paid the bare minimal?
When I look up above I get the same sense of unease
when flowing and blowing in the sky blue breeze
I see a balletic plastic bag fly and freeze
It looks so beautiful, but then I think “jeez,
It’ll take 500 billion years for that bag to decompose”
I don’t suppose
It just goes
forever
Never causing any harm, just acting as a balm
to sore eyes
No, it’ll probably land in the ocean
No more poetry-in-motion
for it
Probably strangle a dugong
See, like I said,
All kinds of wrong

Bibliotheca

The effect is instantaneous
Outside its door I’m anxious
Nervous, most of the time
But when the glass parts and I’m cosseted by the familiarity
of the rows and rows and rows of paper and ink, I think
“ah, peace”
Nothing worries me while I wander its aisles
with its piles and piles and piles of other people’s thoughts
most of which go over my head while I trail my fingers across their spines
full of lines that I will never read
And although the nature of its business has evolved, it is consistent
and resistant to becoming hipster-cool
Oh sure, it has a DVD rack
and stacks of CDs for people to hire
Loads and loads and loads of André Rieu
who seems to be so du jour
at the moment
But still, as well, its taste is timeless, if not faultless
I’ve been coming here since I was able
to stock my bedside table
with something for free
Imaginary
Tales long forgotten that have left their mark
To spark a young girl to want to write
I wish I could bottle its Zen
and when I needed it, dab the liquefied relaxed calmness
onto my main pressure points
or drink it straight into my system
But I can’t
So I’ll keep coming back, through those doors
to explore someone else’s world
in the hope of leaving mine for a while

I Am Too

I know. I know.
You’ve told me before.
She’s the one for you.

She grows, and shows
so much more
than I ever do

and I have hitherto
not revealed my ability to be, like her, so gosh darn enigmatic
But on this I am emphatic
I can be deep.
I can be meaningful.
I can be so amazingly mystical!
“My word! … You’re captivating!” you’ll say (about me)
It’ll be like the intellectual revelation equivalent of when the dowdy secretary
whips off her glasses
just as her boss passes
her in the hall
also just at the same time as she lets out her hair from its tightly wound bun
and down her back cascades her tresses
and then he confesses
just how much he now realises he cares for her
“My word! … You’re enchanting!” you’ll say (about me)
Or hey, you might say
“enchanté”
All, like, the French way

(Sorry, where was I ? ... oh yeah)

And when you do
your mind will expand to include the landscape I introduce you to
and you’ll bestow on me more attention
and affection
than anyone else before has been blessed to receive from you

You Didn't See Me, Right

I’ve got my cap pulled way down low
and my sunglasses shield my face
I’ve scraped my hair into a tight chignon
Not a loose tendril out of place
I am so incredibly incognito
I barely recognise myself at all
Such a simple disguise deftly donned
Surely ASIO will give me a call
I walk by a bus stop shelter
and see my reflection in its glass
I give myself a deliberately shifty look
and then an elaborate wink as I pass
I could be anyone right now
The Saint or someone of that ilk
And then I ask myself “what is with you?
You’re just going to the shop for some milk!”

Off Your Chest

I approach you in the hallway
I put a hand to your chest as we go to pass
Just as a way to say “hey”
But it stops me dead in my tracks
Your beat freaks me out
It seems to be thumping real hard in my hand
I say “wow, it’s really jumping!”
You say, with a shrug, “well, I guess it’ll wear itself out one day”
All, like, c'est la vie
And it occurs to me
that it will wear itself out, but just not on your sleeve

Cheer The F#@k Up, Mel

I am exactly where I thought I’d be
I’m a self-fulfilling prophecy
Well, not fulfilled, more like almost empty
Yeah, self-depleting, predictably

I could have told you, right from the start
Could have plotted it for you on a chart
Shown you the result straight away, truth be told
And now it’s too late, I’ve gone and got old

Maybe if I’d predicted some other conclusion
I wouldn’t be in this zone of exclusion
Maybe if I’d imagined a different result
How it turned out would not be my fault

But I’m not disappointed or even surprised
This is exactly how I had it surmised
A crystal clear vision that’s now come true
I called it from the start, well what can you do?

Tense and Waiting

I am way past tense it’s belated
that I now move on to aggravated
You see, my participle is so outdated
that it has made me quite irated
I know that’s not even a word
It’s just that I’m trying to be heard
above the din and cacophony that occurred
and the shock and the gasps that were stirred
when I used an irregular verb
It’s a habit I'm unable to curb
And it does seem so to disturb
Even sometimes to annoy and perturb
But we can’t all be in the here and now
You must at least, just this once, allow
some time for me to make this vow
My participle will be present and perfect some how

Just Off The Top Of My Head

I’ve cut off my nose to spite my face
Of my olfactory system there is no trace
I’m minus a sinus, a nostril or two
An appraisal of my nasal will show this is true
I’ve turned a blind eye and the other cheek as well
But I got my tongue tied so I just couldn’t tell
My lips were sealed and I didn't make a sound
But I kept my chin up and an ear to the ground
I won’t be brow-beaten or stick my neck out instead
Because that’s all I’ve got, off the top of my head

The Score

I won’t play second fiddle
if you blow your own horn
You better change your tune
or face the music and my scorn
Your harping may strike a chord
with those others less well-versed
in your song and dance routine
that you continue to rehearse
When others sing your praises
you say “We’ll play it by ear”
Well, on that note
I’ll leave you my dear

Motherchompin' Termites

Even if they eat the house right down to its core
Even if your feet fall right clean through the floor
The termites can’t munch memories

Even if the walls crumble as you sit in your chair
Even if they reduce to sawdust each and every single stair
The termites can’t munch memories

Even if the roof has a hole you can see through to the outside
Even if the bedroom has an unexpected water fall a metre wide
The termites can’t munch memories

Even if the pergola falls and crashes down on your head
Even if a beam breaks, knocks you out, kills you dead
The termites can’t munch memories

Sign Language

An index finger points the way
My thumb extended says “All’s okay!”
A band on the ring finger says “I got him to stay!”
The pinkie really has no part to play
The remaining finger says “Have a nice day!”

Consumed By Love

You’re food for my thoughts
The apple of my eye
I’m drinking you in
The tea leaves don’t lie

Your smile is my bread and butter
Your laugh, icing on the cake
But you never even call me
How much silence can I take?

What am I, chopped liver?
But I just saved your bacon!
So you don’t want this jelly?
Well, that’s your mistake you be makin’

Galaxically Desperate

You are the world to me
but I’m not the world to you
I would never presume to be so planetary
Maybe you think of me as a supercontinent, like Gondwana, before all the land masses broke up.
No, I guess not, I would never presume to be so tectonic.
Perhaps you think of me as a country
No, I would never presume to be so topographical
Any chance you view me as an isthmus?
No, I would never presume to be so hard to pronounce
How about a nation state or a principality?
No, I guess not, I don’t really understand what they are
Maybe an atoll?
Hmmm, too radioactive …
But you are the world to me

Untitled

If the cat’s got your tongue
and the tail wags the dog
is a bird in the hand
as easy as falling off a log?

If your present is a white elephant
don’t look the gift horse in the mouth
or the early bird will get the worm
when it starts heading south

The best laid plans
of mice and men
may result in the lion’s share
but not its den

There’s something fishy
when your goose is cooked
You’re as blind as a bat
but still overlooked

Independence Day

As I pass other people I exhale
I avoid any inhalation
I have a goal I am sure to fail
I want to live in isolation

I don’t want to breathe them in
I don’t want to need anyone
So as from today I’ll begin
to continue on as I’ve begun

No man is an island, they say
Well that’s fine, I’ll just float on the sea
And as I pass you by on my way
You’ll be able to see I’m free

Beholden and holding on to no one
From within will come my satisfaction
And if I look particularly lonesome
Don’t give me your pity or compassion

Please.