I can hear it

the bending wire
of the armistice: 
twisted and tined 
plucked high and fine
and bitten
for a taste of fast and cheap iron

a prickling thrill provokes 
like a high water line
makes me wonder
what chokes 
and what it takes
to be full
to be whole 

instead, 
the best I can do is a side of myself
and a garnish of mint 
(for color)
even while raked raw
naked,  id ...

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I've got entangled in pure mystery

never endured a coquette so lewd,

her words twinkle like spangles but

despite all the glitter she's shrewd

I've come across some fast workers

in moments she had me unzipped

I'm far from a slouch at glib patter

in her sea-soiled face rests a crypt

its like being a drunken fire-eater

on a water-bed playing with fire

I've grow...

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can't breathe and his kidneys have had it

he's a dead duck if the machinery ceases

I could do anything I wanted with the guy

as a girl I used to pull my dolls to pieces

he gets no visitors so what is the point?

zero enquiries or flowers, no one cares

scant thanks when I change his nappies

all I ever get is moans and blank stares

does he have a clue how much this c...

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Audio reading: https://soundcloud.com/tomalexwrite/renee-by-a-thread

Down the corridor, comes a scream
Was it physical pain
or the horror of finally learning
the way this game is turning
They took your clothes
gave you a gown
there was nothing to do but lay right down
Now, the machine breathes
for you
hung by a thread and leaving soon

Faint flashes behind tired eyelids
recalle...

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He spoke

And then it seemed

The mist and perhaps my mind swirled round

A sickening looping helix

From that still small sphere of heat.

In the chill of a dusk we descended

Beneath a frosted sickle moon

Descended into the Stygian blackness

Of land above a still lake

From which no lunar gleam escaped

The frigid darkness was intense, solid

Consuming all my senses -

...

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I can tell you exactly when it happened. I was sat on one of those plasticy leatherette chairs. You know the ones, they have them in all hospitals, they're easy to wipe clean if someone has a little accident. I had my hand clasped about my wife's fingers and though I knew I was squeezing them too hard she didn't complain.

She, the doctor that is, or should I say consultant? Anyway, she leant in...

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The Royal Free hums its energetic life

As I sit musing in my garden

A background drone always there

As the hospital is always open for care

It's summer so the trees mask its physical presence 

Just the joined up sound of health and excellence

We moved here with two small boys

And thought being near The Free might be handy

Energetic boys in an energetic city

Who knows the...

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How brave, in reality, is a ‘brave face’?

A facade shared, it would seem,

by the majority of the human race.

Beneath the flaking paint of a painted mask

lies a truth too long and painful to explain

no matter how oft you care to ask.

How long before the cracks become too wide

to conceal with powders and creams

and the crimson smile starts to slide.

How long...

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