S and W 
Bookend a no 
And keep it from 
Escaping 

Winter is falling  
Upon hills forgotten 
Now transformed  
Ramps of my dreams 

Ben returns  
To this moment 
For his feast 
For he has been starved 

Puffing as I play  
With giddy feelings 
Banished 
From a serious life 

The thickening snow 
Disguises  
My uncontrolled 
Explosion 

I just look mad 
And overgrown 
Free 
Running 

I’ve grown so far away
From this 
The boy who ran and played
Till fingers fell numb 

So I’ll wait  
Till the light fades
And pretend 
For a little longer 

Don’t leave  
My glimpse  
Of a younger time 
In the glistening white

May I rest here
And soak in your breath 
Down to warm my
Inside  
 
May I rest my hand 
Into your clutch 
And let my heart flutter
Tonight 

May I rest now 
In this sheltered place 
Of red and glass 
And heat

May I rest in peace 
Where this all began 
Take me back to that 
Winter light

I can hear the clock ticking 
Under these cotton sheets 
I am warm 
As the storm arrives 

The ticking darts in and out 
Like a fairy 
And as it builds
It deafens 

Echoing around my mind 
Like the swirling winds 
That bellow 
From outside 

But inside 
I am taken over
By a clock intent 
On rattling me 

It is crazing me out 
This fucking crick crack noise 
I’m at my end
Striking out  

Then calm 
Submerged in the sound 
Somehow the anger collapses it 
And sounds pass over my head 

Like a passing boat 
To the fish swimming beneath 
The sounds muffle 
In endless space 

A peace
After all that 
I am present 
Under these warm sheets

Slipping through my fingers like butter 
Down onto the crystal dish 
Friends  
My chance of a civilised life 

Why do I forget 
To love proactively 
Why are relationships like these  
Such a test of heart 

I withhold my need for others 
I cradle me 
Without care to cradle those 
I could befriend 

To die bereft of friendship
To have walked this earth alone 
Is to have experienced man’s modernity 
My unnecessary way 

What i’d do 
To break free of my compulsion 
To love  
To give

Lucid 
Tripping tracks in my mind 

Misty
Breaking down outside 

Solemn
At the end of the high 

Weakened
Under lonely sky 

Sore
In between my toes 

Rotting 
Out these bones 

Waiting 
For the night to come 

Hit 
By the piercing sun 

Trapped
In this aging cave 

Fear
Fleshly laid 

Arrived 
I’m here to hit 

Rush 
My life is lit 

Birds 
To fly up there 

Soaring 
Fresh night air 

Wishing 
I could go somewhere

It’s in my eyes 
I blink faster to wake 
I drift in and out
Of the two worlds I know 

One of truths bent 
Mysteries I uncover in the night 
Where a representation fools me
Into thinking I can 

This place is lighter 
Harder to reach
And rarely do I go there for long 
Or out of choice 

It’s hard to know why I do  
Escape perhaps 
Or the cauldron where my thoughts rest 
Before meeting their reality 

This second place 
Is my waking place 
I am woken by it 
And it’s serious fumes 

There is no denying it’s importance 
As my eyes blink the gravity sets in
My skin rests harder 
On the bed where I sleep 

The haze has gone now 
Eyes peeled head cleared 
I have returned back from my travels 
And the mist of my morning mind 

You cut my every morsel
Grip and pull it downwards 
My earlobes hang like lead 
When you visit 
Germs 

I’m not your safe space you know 
The place to go when it gets cold
I’m a person in here 
But you play your game 
Rip rip - then you laugh at me 

I don’t know if you know this 
But when you come 
I would swap everything in the world 
For you to leave
Me

That probably ignites another of your cackles doesn’t it
That rattles
In my vertebrae 
As this chest 
Weakens 

I want to say I’ll win 
Kick you 
But I am succumbing
To your 
Serum

1

Those fucking words won’t come 
Out under the melting tongue  

Spit your truth 
From the booth 

Wish I could 

2

Verse is stuck 
Blocked and chocked 

Dry lips 
No good 

I should 

3

Rhyme out  
Structure in  

Pop your mind 
Shoot the 

Shit 

-

I cannot configure 
This view 
Absent of you 

Time without
Punctuating commas 
Like this 

A routine  
Lunch or
Breakfast 

Dinner maybe 
To hold  
This moment  

The inevitability 
Of these 
Years 

Is their pace 
Day to 
Day 

All the while 
Held 
By this 

Just sit 
And eat
With me

I stand and wash in this syrup 
It is soft and yellow and gentle and kind 
Drip drip

I taste the golden tang 
Open my eyes and remind myself 
Sting sting  

It’s like the bath you washed me in 
The one I splashed in 
Luke warm

Now it comes down from above
Raining memories 
Drop drop