I love the tang of a tomato
As it tickles the taste buds on my tongue
There’s nothing quite like the tingle
As the juice begins to run
The pop of the first bite
The explosive gush of taste
When I eat a tomato
Not one bit do I waste
Tomato
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Tag Archives: Poetry
Y C U?
I wonder what it is I see you for
When all I crave is to see you more
There’s your smell I can’t resist
My melting heart after we’ve kissed
Your fingertip pressure upon my spine
Body electric your touch divine
The texture of your warm soft skin
The brush and rush of lovemaking
The way you walk and swing your hips
The way you talk with precious lips
Your voice a sound of sweetest measure
The sound of true love‘s spoken pleasure
The way you think and make me wonder
You shake my world, views torn asunder
And when you challenge it stirs in me
New hope and ways that I can see
Your hair holds aloft a thorny crown
You turn the wind right way around
Your shoulders strong they carry me
Arms embrace me meaningfully
Our limbs entwined our hearts on fire
Together, inspired, alight, desire
When your nose nuzzles my neck
I feel the comfort of a future set
The deep, dark pools behind your eyes
They drive me to resist good byes
I love to love you in every way
I need to see you every day
These are the reasons
Y I C U
Dreaming of Salt Water
The sea the sea the rolling sea
Is all that I adore
Let me let me be upon the sea
Mother dear, I implore
Beside stern lantern’s fading light
I’ll wave to fading shore
To sail away year and day
And learn the ocean lore
A seaman right and able I’ll be
A landsman never more
Their hands
Their hands when they touch
Flow from rolling of wrists
Each touch is a signal
Each touch is a kiss
Their fingers are folding
On whispers and secrets
Cupped hands are holding
All ahead that will be
Their fingers trace circles
On their palms telling futures
Tender are the touches
Of their hands as their tutors
Their hands rest together
One on top of the other
Their hands mark their measure
Their harmonious hands
Their hands spread out
Open and true
Telling each story
Each soul on view
Hands hold each heart
Supporting each core
Their hands do the learning
Of what more to adore
The extension of hands
The parallel lines
Pads of sensitive fingers
Their dreaming defines
There are fists and shaking
There are dips and rise
There are quivering fingers
Before flickering eyes
When hands arc with arms
To gracious embrace
The lovers say nothing
As hands touch each face
Delicate lines are drawn
Across soft skinned cheeks
Then with touches to lips
Mouths start to seek
Two seeing hands
guide the blind
Sensuous and caressing they massage
Four hands synchronise
to breathe in kind
Entwined
in waves of love
My aubade
My aubade for thee
Played lovingly
Under window thine
On morning fine
Post sleepless night
Love’s tortured plight
I sing to confess
Hand on breast
As my music plays
I see our days
Together ahead
In love’s soft bed
Rich with the melody
Of my love for thee
Listen my love
At rest above
Unto me call
To climb thy wall
Open thy window
Into which I’ll go
To lie with thee
In love’s company
This is how I love you
You know how much I love you – much
I love so much to touch you – touch
Let’s not make a fuss about it – fuss
Just live and love together – just
I adore you I am all yours – adore
The more I see you the more I want you – more
Let’s spend our love together – love
Above the mundane we’ll rise – above
Be as one known one to – one
Like sun you light my world – like sun
Said Prospero, “Every third thought shall be of my grave.”
What Prospero said should not be decried
Give death its rightful standing in our lives
As a lens through which to view the good for which we strive
To ponder temporal versus the eternal that is always nigh
To elevate appreciation and despondency defy
And so, when vibrant youth immortality implies
When healthy vigour makes the future glisten in our eyes
When happiness is at its peak with all that it supplies
When prosperity creates opportunity many are denied
When security is such that all our fears it belies
Take a moment to remember it is only life that dies
Value life through death as on times fleeting wings it flies
The mind that honours death values life on high
Living the sci fi dream
I’m living the sci fi dream,
so it seems.
Where we understand the choices
and know what they mean.
Yet still sleepwalk into disaster
amongst the silent screams.
Frightened humans
Acting on fear
Fear to employ
What they hold dear
Prepared to destroy
Sublime
Soft touch
Soft lips
Hug held
Soft hips
So precious
Sublime
So perfect
All mine
Fear
I feel it behind me
stalking and faceless
skulking and malevolent
The hairs on the back of my neck
stand on end
like highly sensitised
oh so brittle antennae
I walk more briskly
I am tempted to run
but not tempted to tempt fate
Each step announces
a deepening sense of dread
a heightened anxiety
a rising feeling of panic
Evil is about tonight
amongst the chill night air
and the cold dull haloes
of the too distant streetlights
There it is again
The faintest of scrapings
rapid and sequential
advancing along the pavement behind me
Demonic footsteps of malicious intent
portents of pain and suffering
They strain my hearing to the point
of questioning whether I hear anything at all
but I know they are there
coming
closing
My eyes dart urgently
from side to side
A tic
twitches my cheek
I am shaken to my core
I startle at a moth that brushes my cheek
My head flicks left
My head flicks right
My fully dilated pupils
black as any pit in hell
scream at me for more light
and scour the edges of darkness
for a bolt hole
Sanctuary
any hope to cling too
Peripheral vision
reams in the sidelines
desperately seeking refuge
struggling to see ahead and aside at the same time
Sweat begins
to bead my brow
Cold sweat
Shivers
wrack my body
I begin to whimper
I don’t want to hurt
to plead for my life, my soul
for mercy
I don’t want to die alone
I don’t want to die here
and now
A movement
in the corner of my eye
I stumble in fright
miss the kerb
roll my ankle
The pain shoots up into my calf
and something tears
I gasp
My flight becomes hobbled
I limp on in fear
dragging my injured foot
scraping the rubber of the sole
on the hard surface
of coarse concrete
Then
comes the first touch
An icy point
A razor-sharp prickle
pierces my jacket
In one swift motion
needlelike it penetrates the fabric
just breaking the surface of my skin
From my lower back
a cold finger of ice
tracks a paralyzing pathway
up toward my right shoulder
Muscles cramp
then seize
into an excruciating knotted strip
of rock solid pain
Futile teardrops begin to fall
I sob in absolute horror
and misery
“Oh God, help me, somebody help me!”
I wheel
there is nothing there
The second touch
burns
as a keenly sharp edge
slices a clean shallow line
fully across my left cheek
This one is hot
like dry ice
The blood flows
as thick warm syrup
It makes its way down my pallid face
mixing with the tears and snot of fear
dripping onto my stained clothes
gluey on my hands
I didn’t even sense the blade coming
let alone what wielded it
Dread wells up inside me
threatens to overwhelm me
I pursue escape
from terrifying pursuit
The road is empty
straight
as far as the opaque darkness
allows my eyes to see
Where pavement ends
terraformed tracts of bare earth begin
A homeless housing estate
At the periphery of illumination
feebly provided by each dreary streetlight
is murk
thick with ominous foreboding
It envelops the world
on this souless, moonless night
Hope fades
The third touch
is a heavy thump
in the small of my back
It cripples me
I stagger
It is all I can do not to collapse
I must stop to breathe
to fall on my haunches
straining to fill my airless lungs
I double over
when I need to stand
I pause
when I need to run
I falter
when I need courage
I give into weakness
when I need to find strength
I heave
when I need to draw breath
The fourth touch
comes as a surprise
Desperately preoccupied with surroundings and survival,
my head and neck are parted,
as I miss the prophecy of imminent death
but fleetingly register
oh timely release
oh sweet oblivion
Savoured Moments #1
I wake at 4 in the morning
In the small hours
When small things matter
and ideas can repeat in your brain
taking on more significance than they deserve
eroding your ability to unwind
Like a tap dripping in the next room
But not this morning
This morning it is soft rain I hear
gently tinkling on the metal
of the carport roof outside
It is warm under the covers
I feel secure
as your soft regular breathing resumes
after you roll onto your side next to me
Was it an interrupted dream?
I like not knowing everything that goes on in your head
After all these years you can still surprise me
I snuggle up to your back
and rest my forehead between your shoulder blades
As I contemplate what it is to be us
your heels settle into the angle of my ankles
your calves align with my shins
your thighs mold to mine
and your backside schmoozes deliciously into my groin
I raise my head to create more space
so I can wrap my arms around you
pulling your upper body into mine
As my arms embrace your warmth
I soak up your textures
I draw in your smell
With my eyes closed
I sense every point at which we touch
I feel our body rhythms synchronise
as my muscles relax
and my mind smiles
with the intimate pleasure
of as much body contact as we can muster
I savour the moment
as peaceful sleep reclaims me
The Bees
I walk under the flowering trees
I hear a mighty incessant drone
The canopy is filled with bees
The bees that pollinate our homes
A gift from flower to flower they spread
The food chain thrives and grows
They keep all animals and people fed
With pollen transfer and honey flows
At our peril we ignore their plight
Bees are dying around the world
As they depopulate out of sight
Desiccated bodies shrivel and curl
We blithely march into the future
Pesticide monoculture deforestation
While bees cooperate store and nurture
We blithely march toward desolation
Save the bees should read the banner
The banner we have left unfurled
Plant more trees in every manor
Preserve this insect and save the world
33 kinds of rain
The misting rain as light as being
The pitter patter rain of anticipation
The sun shower rain of joyfulness
The dawn lit rain of new awakenings
The driving rain of persistent harassment
The piercing rain of pain and hurt
The bleak rain of uncertainty
The saturating rain of grief
The pounding rain of anger
The cold rain of fear and loathing
The persistent rain of melancholy
The drought breaking rain of celebration
The tropical rain of surprise and relief
The tin roof rain of night time snuggles
The slanting rain of getting under your skin
The fat wet rain of things to come
The dull rain of misery
The easing rain of hope for a day
The sheeting rain of washing your sins away
The aerosol rain that never settles
The eddying rain of indefinite endings
The ominous rain of growing darkness
The thunder laden rain of shock and awe
The storm driven rain of nature’s authority
The drenching rain of no escape
The floating rain of disproportionate outcomes
The harrowing rain of oppression and spite
The lightning flash rain of vision burned
The unexpected rain of scrambling for shelter
The flooding rain of tears
The icy rain of an unknown future
The sleety rain of chilled to the bone
The sunlit rain of clarity of purpose
The dancing rain of swirling possibilities
The evening rain of contemplation
The elemental rain of fundamental outcomes
The cloaking rain of secrecy
The wispy rain of dissipation
The hard rain of death
The transparent rain of release
The soft rain of peace
A poem of parental love
Head for home my darlings
Run the very last mile
Take your mother in your arms
Revel in her smile
See the family home awaiting
Doors always open for you
Embrace the love inside
The love that greets you two
To see you home again my loves
To look into your eyes
To touch your cheeks, your hair
Makes parents come alive
We hear the stories of life being lived
Interested and entranced
We see you grow and give
Toward life’s merry dance
Through all trials and tribulations
You know we’re always here
We hold you in our hearts
We hold you ever dear
Accepting your achievements
Your foibles and your flaws
Our pleasure’s in the hoping
That there’s always to be more
Lay down your heads our children
On the pillows of your youth
For sharing and for solace
This home is yours in truth
The violent sky
Storm light hues
A days greying light
As aggressive wind
Precedes nature’s might
The horizon darkens
Dry matter flies
Cumulonimbus
Pile up high
Scattered fat drops
Precede storms eye
Shredded black cloud
Goes racing by
Driven rain follows
Meets a dry earth sigh
As flooding water
Dust defies
Lightning brilliance
Thunder nigh
Magnificent concussion
Vault occupies
Above us all
The Titans vie
For heavenly dominance
In the violent sky
The bed
“It’s not really a bad sort of a bed”
Yes, I think that’s verbatim, what she said
As the sheets of the bed turned brightly red
As the blood pooled, ran, dripped onto the floor
As it stickily coagulated, could run no more
She, holding the knife, felt she’d settled her score
The body lay prone with wounds in the back
I couldn’t believe our assailant’s strong hack
Or the size of the knife she wielded with such knack
Her slightly built body, her small fine fingered hand
The ring on one finger, the jewelled wedding band
The wet sleeve to the elbow, all bloodied and damned
Her action reaction, tragically violent in hew
In her mind no alternative, nothing else to do
With everything gone and nothing to lose
When I walked in the room she was standing there
A satisfied smile, a flushed face, a hand in his hair
I approached quietly for the knife from this desolate pair
That’s when she said, “It’s not a bad sort of bed”
One that they’d shared, planned their lives up ahead
But it seems he’d had others in the bed instead
And the only life she saw had him on the bed dead
Love’s gauntlet
Here once on this path love’s torment
Found me quietly pleading in fear
Then twice by this way love’s sonnet
Helped me to see my way clear
As I thrice put my case love’s comet
Struck me, rendered me seer
Four times in the midst of love’s torrent
My heart stricken by love beyond peer
A fifth run to the end of love’s gauntlet
Win or lose shapes my life on from here
the fortunate father: a poem for my son
From the father to the son
Two men bound as one
From your time as a boy
You have brought your father
Joy
From the father to the man
I will love you to the end
Not just for being my son
But also for being my friend
I love your powerful words
Your great sense of romance
Your reflection and your humour,
Love of life’s elaborate dance
But most of all I love
Self centred it may be
Your willingness to share
All these things with me
There’s a new man in town


This is not a plateau
Skeleton School by Madelaine Last
This new normal is not a plateau
This new normal is not the new normal bro
The simple fact is temperatures continue to rise
The simple fact is there are no alibis
Even when an individual climate change denies
Even when the fatalists are saying their good byes
Even though so many choose to walk on by
We can do our best and the naysayer defy
Because there are indicators that clearly show
There may still be time to protect our home
Despite the hothouse building in our greenhouse dome
2016 was the world’s hottest year
because El Niño added to the sear
Many politicians made this their bluff
On behalf of lobbyists saying it’s one off
Then 2017 was almost just as hot
The third warmest year and El Niño not
How is the first half of 2018 I hear you ask?
How much reflected heat was there in which we basked?
It was the fourth warmest on the global tab
Again, no El Niño to be factored in the lab
Accelerating temperatures throughout the Industrial Age
Say greenhouse gas emissions cause climate change
Measures have been gauged stats have been paged
So many ordinary people are supremely enraged
Four straight years of temperature highs
Unseasonal fires, landslides, quickening dries
Ice caps melting at an ever-increasing pace
Ocean currents stalling changing weather’s ancient face
Sea temp differentials flatten there are water level highs
Since 1993 7.7 centimetres of seawater rise
And we’re still not ready damn our eyes
There is not one government that does enough
Where conservatives dominate, we are really stuffed
When we need collective accomplishment on the world stage
All they manage is the underachievement needed to end our age
When 17 of our hottest years since records were begun
Have been experienced by the planet since 2001
Fish are relocating due to warming waters
Resource wars are driving people across borders
Animals are struggling where small changes matter
Wildfire behaviour sees normal patterns scatter
Hard dry ground where crops should have been
Leave starving masses suffering sight unseen
In Sweden and El Salvador wheat and corn harvests dip
Four continents of heatwaves rock the state of the ship
Intense and longer storms, Flo’s protracted flooding rains
Deeper waters and drier droughts put more people in their graves
Nuclear plant shutdowns because river cooling water is too warm
Does any government or corporate body set off an alarm?
No, because they say we’re in the same safe boat
Despite some countries suffering in ways others do not
In Delhi people lie on the ground when record heat stops work after noon
Where there’s no techno cooling to ease every hotter summer’s swoon
Elsewhere electricity supply crashes due to air con demand
Dozens of heat related deaths occurred last summer in Japan
Basic system failures threaten water supply and food
Yet, all some do is argue, wring hands and do no good
2017 saw a carbon dioxide max for 800,000 years
But from Paris the US withdraws citing fake news fears
And the rich haven’t paid to help poor countries cope
As they promised in the accord to give some glimmer of hope
Global warming now moves faster than any models say
Are there global changes can be made to keep the worst at bay?
Like science harnessing knowledge to produce drought resistant crops
Or international government that can call on climate cops
Enforcing global policy solutions, a climate government pronounces
Or predicting global heat and rainfall for informed responses
We’re not talking about the risk to our grandchildren anymore
It’s the risk to today’s planet knocking at our door
Unless we lift ourselves from our decision-making funk
We’ll reduce the value of our world to the corporate status “junk”
Meanwhile, some people and Governments are acting somewhere out there
Funding research and renewables, reducing waste, doing their share
Protesters are demonstrating and actioning their care
Planting, recycling, whiting roofs, championing what is fair
But they can’t take on the weight of the world it’s just too much to bear
Will you help them, will you and you take on the dare?
Breakfast
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What do you eat for breakfast? Continue reading
Walking in the evening
Gallery
I’m walking in the evening
Smelling all the sounds Continue reading
Marmo Lane
Gallery
Winter rain
With Winter’s reign
Comes winter rain …..
Heavy, Kamikaze, straight into the ground
A relentless, driving, ominous sound
Drumming incessantly on iron clad roof
Beating out rhythms of Winter’s truth
Pummeling every deciduous bough
Weighing branches to a seasonal low
Forcing autumn leaves to their final leap
Reminding trees it is time to sleep
Sean
