we invented angels . 

beneath the brawn of skin
the pock of age 
spinning sweat for escape 
a purpose for craned necks
and volume for books 

we needed a shape for hope. 

indescernable from our fevered tongues
to spill us from these iron lungs
compressants quenched
and lift toward the spiraling smoke 
the ecstacy of backroom chatter 
of porch-lit memory 

we invented angels. 

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Today my friend buries her mother in a coffin she has painted by hand. Today my friend's father tells her that she has taken on too much responsibility in the matter. She tells me he made her feel like she did not have a choice. Today I will get my hair cut. Today by mid day my friend will have buried her mother. My friend is only twenty four. Her daughter is two. I ask my friend how she has been ...

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Sweat on the ground

Moist all around

Shivering was the witch

Until the mob surround her switch 

The crimes untold

As the woman's wrath unfolds

While the flames ignite 

to the crowds’ delight

Her screams echo fuelling the mobs hate

While masking their fate as her soul surrounds them 

The forest of death has a witches’ breath

With eyes that see through...

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a cough as dead leaves drop

detached with soft faint sigh

last breath of lonely martyrs

murmur of breeze in the sky

gravity's heavier as we age

ancient oaks sad blue eyes

saplings thrust like a lance

a loving that knows no lies

do remember me, I'm here,

did you forget I found you?

like a lost fawn, dappled in

shadowed glades and dew

scoured every ...

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A droplet rolling down a leaf,

a ray of sunshine lighting the way,

rain clouds coating the sky in gray,

all of it beautiful beyond belief.

In the distance a drawn out howl,

the night gives all a nocturnal cowl,

hiding in the shadows,

a quiet danger grows,

waiting for an opportunity,

a made-up monstrosity.

Both begin in an eerie forest,

it all depends on t...

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hinterlands intact,

forests not a hell,

grass not wheat,

soft cold rain fell

heavens doing what

open clear skies do,

pilgrims of sunlight,

days honestly new

no forever anymore,

now the foe is time,

some end's in sight,

verses don't rhyme

tarnished the sward,

ox-skulls bleaching,

toll paid for a blind,

low, over-reaching

truths die...

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tears fall from the tips of leaves, 
no longer heaving but finally at peace, 
no longer a place for relief, 
no longer bending to the constant breeze, 
no longer kept afloat meandering rivers, 
no longer subject to raging fires, 
no longer a victim to defeat. 

tides no longer pulling at the heart, 
stars no longer hovering above, 
no longer tormented to be part of the world 
that casts...

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slowed down to silence
at midnight in the forest
even the birds sleep

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She's smart as a whip and shoots from the hip

She's calm in a crisis and clever

She's stronger than men and quick with a pen

She's wiser than Plato was ever

Forest Green. Forest Green, my sylvan lover

Take care not to get that one riled

She lives in the woods with all her goods

A creature of Nature, God's child

I was walking my dog on a day blunt with fog

When ...

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I longed to see a forest

So I crossed the seven seas

But when I finally got there

All I saw was trees

So I headed for the mountains

A range called Pyrenees

But when I got much nearer

All I saw was trees

And then somebody told me

The Amazon would please

And guess what bloody happened ?

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I saw her stand

exposed and timid

nervous, shivering

in the leafy sun

a dappled beauty

suddenly shy

I saw him stand

proud and sure

brash, potent

in the cool shade

a young pretender

suddenly hesitant

I heard them come

angry and loud

fast, rushing

through the heat

the older lads

suddenly here

I saw his doubt

alone and fearful

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This poem follows from my earlier work "Wet", set in the city of Cairns, Far North Queensland. Having reached the place, the next challenge is to figure out how to survive in the prevailing weather conditions: 100 percent humidity and massive daily rainfall. Air conditioning helps, somewhat.

Water Street

Summer was the waiting for the Wet:

On Water Street, old Queenslanders

creake...

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The landlord called this morning

Said that she could tell I just woke up. To call her back later.

The cold was different to me, this late morning
Hazy, paired with rain
Drizzled, Murky, Heavy air that swept through the knit of my hoodie.

The branches lay next to the garage in a consecutively non-organized fashion, taken back by hand a few times

 To the old burning pile ...

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Everyone deserves a dream or two.

Sleeping in a Forest

Light and fire and music

all dance within me

in this perfect, silent forest

as she welcomes me to her breast,

full with fallen seeds and crinkled leaves

for my head; my bed of ashen river stones,

murmured possums, and repose. Long I slept

while overhead the white-hot starfields

bent to their nightly arcs...

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Oh, England,

you green and pleasant land,

your beauty never ceases to instil

a calmness in my hands.

A sense of peace; contentment

within my wandering mind,

a fulfilling feast for longing eyes

that seem always looking behind.

The golden greens of your pastures

covering long and rolling hills,

the succulent scent of your flowers

tickling senses to smile at...

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WOODLAND WONDER

Gently caressed by the breath of the breeze,
branches sway atop tall lofty trees.
Restless leaves, to gnarled fingers, cling
wondering what freshness the new day will bring.

Hopping about on long leafy arms,
fluttering feathers displaying delicate charms.
Beautiful songbirds sing out their sweet melodies
in the grand performance of natures sweet harmony.

Bushy tailed...

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Lair Of The Snow Spider

there are domains so deep

that no one will tread

so dark that they are blind

in these dank places

the air is still and

sound is soft and mute

into this darkness

snow falls

settling in the nooks

and crannies

dusting the branches

with its ice grasp

can you hear it

the soft sly scuttle

of a many l...

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if a tree falls and nobody is there should it make a recording

so that we all may hear it scream, tweet, so the birds that one day called it home

can carry word  of it’s strident surrender?

maybe this tree is happy to fall and rest in quiet reflection

of it’s once verdant splendour, at peace with its latest role

as the newest crossing over the forest stream and 

re...

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