I find water in spring Beneath sands of the desert Where dry golden caps Protect rivers below Through the summer I plant Without care for the sun Seeds beneath the snow Hiding sparks yet to come In the autumn I find Silence in the city Where songs of sirens Rain through the streets Under darkness in winter I live for the night And stroll with the foxes Until the rise of the day And when I searched for hope She was everywhere And I smiled I could stop looking now
A thousand leaves Bristling in a bounty of air Gave outstretched shade To a stranger Like fingers those thousand pieces clenched Became the familiar shape of her birth A Fern My shelter from today Did she know Her destiny was not limited to her Solitary Self A search for the sun Once daunting, now complete She was never really Alone
Invisible to me It repeats An endless cycle My careless eye Catches detail Without context Systems of humans Appear self made Will I care to notice They are not This strawberry leaf Droops like her sisters fruit Lightly weighing On her mothers arm Lipstick petals With pale green rims Enclose her jewel Now protected Like a child Held This tree of birth Short and stocky Firm to the floor Pyramid shaped Celebrates hierarchy It’s top down approach By creating beauty From its order Strength From its system My ignorance Rarely connects What binds life here The beauty I notice Created by systems I miss Like strawberry's Made from leaves On a tree I wander By
The night-side of life is the kingdom of the sick I have fallen into your darkness My throat is sore Unwelcome growth is infecting me Flourishing inside of me Id love some of that Calpol stuff from the spoon Today I was a Shrivel A presented face. All else lay wilting I am on the bad side Where health is a distant sun Setting away from here I want your warmth little yellow thing Find me
Senses soaked by salt permit my rest Hills crunch into stretched out shores peering out to sea And as yellow spreads in the fields, people of the land meet In pubs like front rooms, where the pull of pace Has lost its grip, and dreams of equal importance Remain in the minds of honest folk Who without cause for concern go about their way With hope for the day Trusting it will come
I walk, without thought, upon the past beneath Grey brick cobbled for foot and wood Now rubber and road lay siege To Montmatre I think, without care, of the chattering minds Swapping tales of today Some stick in the mind Others float with the wind I care, without worry, for these people The kindness and beauty of their place I rest knowing it will repeat This love has been here before
Bells ring In-between the regular silence That deafens this place And heals it Bong Bong Bong Bong And now the 4pm breeze Slips it’s joyous cold hands Down my waiting neck Just in time Patience Rewarded As we reach the crescendo Of a day well spent Now an evening well earned To sip On these heavenly bells Silence after silence
Lights of the Parisian night Draw shapes on the ceiling Dancing fairies Who only after dark Play in the rooms of sleepy travellers And us the sun rises from the east The playful pixies Slip away to sleep Only to pause For the visitors of tomorrow
How do I know this intuition Of equal and opposite direction The push and pull of mind and heart Won’t be the undoing of me This self I am learning to hear And evaluate objectively Stands like a criminal on trial How to lead with heart And mind And clarity I question Still, the battering winds swirl ahead They make their signal A decision only I can make With no good outcome Now the procedure is complete The advice is taken It is only me Yes or no
Rachel’s house was small. It was the last house at the end of the street. A typical square building with a triangle on top. When Rachel’s dad died years ago, Jilly used the money she got from the insurance company to pay for the house in full. It was just the two of them now, but at least they didn’t need to worry about money anymore.
Jack had come over after school like he usually did. Their friendship was understated. They didn’t play together like the other kids, but it didn’t matter. Reading, watching old tv and slowly talking in the garden was enough.
‘Funny how Miss Prichard looks at you’, Rachel said. ‘I think it is to see if she’s saying the right things to the rest of us. She knows that if you don’t get it then we won’t’.
Jack learnt things quickly. He’d always liked school because it came naturally. The school part anyway. ‘I’m not sure, it’s like she watches everyone’ Jack muttered, trying to brush off the backhanded complements.
‘It’s time to go’ shouted Neil, who was in the other room with Jilly. Neil had been at Jillys house before Jack arrived after school. Jilly and Neil had become friends since Rachel’s dad died.
The door slammed behind them as they left. Rachel watched them both leave from the upstairs window. But as she turned around she spotted the work Miss Prichard had left Jack for tomorrow. Without thinking, Rachel stuffed Jacks work in a bag and raced out to catch up.
When she got to Jack’s house, the back door was slightly ajar. She used the back door to get in most of the time – but it was usually locked. She knocked, but no one answered so Rachel strode in and up the stairs to Jacks room at the top of the house.
It took Rachel a moment to understand what was going on when she got to the top. A muffled voice that sounded like Jacks was moaning into a pillow as a hard hollow sound repeatedly cracked down on what sounded like skin. Rachel froze but not on purpose. She’d never heard a sound like that before – her gut told her what it might be.
‘Jack?’, Rachel called his name from the landing – setting herself to rush in. But the sound stopped and then the door slowly opened and Jack came out. ‘Ah I left it, damn, sorry’ said Jack. Despite his bloodshot eyes, jacks voice was settled. ‘Are you ok’? Said Rachel ‘I thought I heard …’ every thing is fine thank you and thanks for bringing this over’. ‘Ok’ said Rachel.
On the way back Rachel struggled to understand it all. But about half way home, she decided she needed to go back to Jacks house to find out. She also decided she needed to go when Jack wasn’t home. Something wasn’t right and if Jack wouldn’t tell her – she’d have to find out herself.
