I count my worth in loaves of bread

And parts of me I discernibly shed

Morsels, crumbs, granules on my plate 

Unveil a mirror with a crestfallen face 

I gorge on sugar that lasts only a few nights 

I wait for it to decay my insides 

Like love, a gaboon viper nestling in my womb,

Ravaging every thought, being and soul, core to root

I revel in the sliver of potentia...

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I took for granted everything,

colors of every hue.

I didn’t know those colors

filled my world because of you.

So, like the fool I am

I let you go, too blind to see

that on my own I am just alone

and things turned out to be

where colors slowly slipped away,

the yellows, greens and blues.

And now the only color left…

is the memory of you.

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be it a rose of winter compares

a dew drop tear on the first open eye,

I still dream of ghosts walking the towns,

I am there with them on rich hunting ground

hindsight retraces all we should’ve been,

and still we are waiting, mute to a dream

my hope ponders spirit, in a world left to die,

confide, we do in each other,

tonight we ride alone

all that thrives has lost i...

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Like the first mirror reflects whats before it
I live in the past 
Anchored by my commitments
I failed to take that class

The angle of time constricts at a point
Silent in its steps despite how vast
Ranging millenia little by little 
The promise is a lie you can not outlast 

Through the scope I inspect my thought 
Regret is not the word because I have made peace
Feel the grip of anxi...

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Memento Mori

Sun shone through the greying lace,

And highlighted her wrinkled face.

Dormant now, no signs of breath,

Not unexpected, a timely death.

Months of pain relieved by time,

Old age being nature’s ultimate crime.

A better place her soul now seeks,

Drying tears nestled on hollowed cheeks.

This disappearing woman faded from sight,

Unnoticed, she left us all...

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An old man, burdened by life's hardships, sits alone on a park bench, lost in sorrow. A stranger, offering three wishes, appears before him, promising a chance at happiness. But what begins as a fleeting opportunity soon turns into a journey of regret, as the man’s impulsive wishes lead him to face the true cost of his desires. Based on Erich Kästner's fairy tale, this thought-provoking tale explo...

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David sat in his childhood room, the stack of letters trembling in his hands. Each one was a window into his mother’s heart—a heart he had taken for granted. Her words, so full of love and longing, cut through the years of silence between them.

He found a letter dated ten years earlier. It spoke of her hope to see him at Christmas. He hadn’t come that year. Another letter, written five years ag...

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Evelyn sat by the window, her frail hands clutching a pen. Outside, snow blanketed the empty street, muffling the world in silence. The house was still except for the faint ticking of a clock, marking moments that felt too long and too short all at once.

She stared at the blank sheet of paper on the desk before her. For years, she'd written to her son, David. She’d sent birthday cards, Christma...

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When will it go away?

The pain in my chest

Pain in my stomach

Pain. 

It’s repetitive and never stops

It creeps up on me like bugs

Stings like a wasp

Bites like a mosquito

And leaves, taking a small part of me

Some say it’s a part of life 

Maybe I don’t want that

If this is life 

Maybe I don’t want any p...

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I used to have a reason

to get up and fight for truth.

I used to have light in my eyes

to know I’d be with you.

I used to have a lot of things

but now all that I do -

is sit here alone, remembering home,

wishing I’d been true.

I used to have a family.

I used to have a home.

I used to have friends,

things I could call wins.

A foundation made of st...

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Sitting here thinking, another week gone.

Another small increment moved from the fire.

It feels like it does when you’re just waking up,

half grasping consciousness, half in the mire.

When you’re not quite sure if it’s real or a dream,

the one where no matter your efforts you fail.

In total frustration you claw just to move,

and in the struggle, you miss the details

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There’s a heart that beats

and a clock that chimes.

Moments pass as they both keep time.

Opportunities lost again.

Words don’t flow from an idle pen.

Deeds don’t come from an idle hand.

Seeds won’t grow in a barren land.

Something stalks me, something’s there.

Something haunts my every prayer.

Aggravation, life slips by.

Desperation, sleepless nights.

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No bird remains to sing his song.

so silence pounds the whole day long.

In beat with memory of the day

I clapped to make him go away.

The fault, it clearly lies with me

the bird was what the bird should be.

Now I live knowing I was wrong…

to want to silence any song.

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Not much goes on around my way;

It’s probably the same near you:

The brutes of buildings, boarded shops,

Unyielding gloom, the angry street,

The young, with nothing else to do.

So when they said I should join up,

I thought to myself: ‘Well, why not?’

It seemed a chance to break away

Into a blast of a cleaner air.

Nobody said I would get shot.

So now I lie be...

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If only I could go back in time

To rectify all my mistakes.

All that I shouldn’t have said,

Yet still felt the need to say.

Why did I even feel that need?

I, too, was just a child, right?

Be the example,

Show them they are wrong.

Show them we are no beasts.

Show them we can be equal.

Act mature,

Be mature.

Show them they are wrong.

So many rules and rest...

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Cry me a river

so I know you can feel

the heartache which splits me apart

in hopes you will come 

with a stick of glue

get me a violin 

and sing me a song

for I’d play

until my fingers fell off

just to hear you sing along

or come kiss me goodnight

bless me with your gentle touch

and look at me with those glittering stars 

so I may fall asleep 

an...

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she is the vagabond

who wanders with the winds

forever adrift 

a prisoner to her sins

by dawn she appears

nextdoor, or nearby 

she’ll pay you no mind

nor lift you an eye

now, offer her aid

let her stay for a while

she’ll throw you a laugh

or feign you a smile 

but soon as you stop

and question her ways

her grin disappears

her eyes fill wi...

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I want to drape the page

with memories, love

with wandering thoughts and

painful regret

I want to wonder

what I could be, and would

if I took my words and

made them come true

or is that unwise?

to wish for a change 

for the dreams to leave my mind

and join the sunlight around me

I want to climb the tallest mountains 

and trees

I would fall i...

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once stood a great warrior

of malice and pride

with no battle too bloody

for his hungering eyes 

his blade, sharp and stained

stood tall at his side

left in its wake

only dead men would lie

then, in the distance 

that red, setting sun

gave a glimpse to the man

of the deeds he had done

the crimson and black

was all he could see

he saw not the...

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The devil has always been,

A faceless entity

To me.

Until now at least.

Now it has become clear.

I can see.

The devil

In front of me.

They are no singular person.

Instead a pair.

Familiar sight.

Lungs devoid of air.

The devils gaze at me.

Recognizable set eyes.

No surprise.

Why is this reality?

First sight of a child.

Encounter...

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‘’See you tomorrow’’,

that was what you said.

Back then, I could not identify it as a lie.

I only realized when I got to your house the next day,

your hanging frame decorating the place.

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Regret

Regret
A thousand times regret.

Choices made,
that cannot be unmade.

Stupid things,
done again and again.

Foundations
laid for a useless life.

Coming to an end for some time.

At least death will be done right.

Kind of hard to screw that up.

(Photo taken by poet. It's the Pennsylvania hills behind Frank Lloyd Wright's Kentuck Knob House.)

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The bell clatters ‘Time’ on another quiet night
tucked off the shore front
In the precious warmth of a Sisimiut tavern
I take another jar, tilt it back and drain
but still there are no answers waiting
Slouching on the bar stool
and licked by shifting shadows
lulled to doze 
by the constant comb of a shuffling sea
An absent-minded shiver washes over
and, suddenly, so softly
your pale arm...

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Miniature lilac tea-candles

in the bathroom, on the john

are symbols of the teardrops

from the bathtub, they burned on.

And that spray of ivy hanging

from the candelabra on the wall

with pictures of dark-brown oak leaves-

reflect you, & to me call.

Our Christmas tree is stripped now

without the tinsel and the balls--

lies naked by the hall door;

mist...

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Walking through summer snow, where who knows, wind just blows, on my way
I stray off, run amuck, find myself stuck until tide lifts me, bereft of care
Caught in my own snares, all these damn tires are patched up spares
Movements at night with silence scared, no one dared to ask why, prepare yourself to die
Tears cried over nothing's things, compressed piss between mattress springs
Life wields...

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You say I am a good person,
They say I am a bad one,
Forgetting that I am just a human being,
Just being what I am now.

Change is unstoppable, just like the flow of water,
People change, so does life,
Making sad almost all the time.
They say you are the one with wisdom,
I can only see you as the one with regret.

"Life is beautiful" as you state,
So why it becomes so hard living like ...

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Corruption

Here in the verdant meadows

All on a summer’s day

The dreaded army of the dark

Met with the noble fey

They fought until the long sundown

And the lost blood of the dead

Soaked into the sacred ground

And turned the roses red

When the fight was over

And the legion of the flies

Had swarmed across the corpses

Stealing hope from sightless eyes

...

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What I am is wrong,
This is not me,
The entire sum of my life has led me to this fact,
I cannot be who I was, nor who I am,
Not even who I am trying to be,

The end is but a heartbeat away,
And there it will begin,
Life lived as a puppet,
Is life ruled by the puppeteer,

Cut the strings,

To fall to the ground by your own hand,
And then rise of your own accord,
Is what I long for,

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As I recall, you cried the first night we met

I found it unusual though charming

Soon it became clear you cried too easily

That daily weep was something alarming

Tears should be for special occasions

Justified by unmitigated joy or grief

Not turned on like a tap by ephemera

But controlled, orderly and brief

I decided to give you something to cry at

Began to roa...

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He was generous he was sweet
He fed us well, we were meat

Yet somehow as others hobbled towards his call
To feed, to fatten, to round, to fall

I saw myself getting sick and more frail
I felt death near, I felt pale

I saw the colors of existence washing away like dirt in a shower
I saw Him as he was, generous with the meat yet not generous with His power

Thus this was the cu...

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What would I wish for, if given the chance?
For a start, I'd wish I could dance
Wish I could learn without having to repeat
Wish I could earn my depression's defeat
Wish I could do all the things I want to do
Wish I could prove the love I have for you
Wish I could act on all these wishes
Wish I didn't have to do the dishes
Wish I could be the person you need
Wish I could resist the sin of...

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Entreaties

My gums are bleeding again.

There’s a stack of papers that need attention

But I can’t find my glasses.

My truck is making that funny noise.

I sleep too late

Because no one wakes me.

I don’t write

I feel it’s all been said.

I find I’m repeating myself

No one takes me seriously

Your point’s been made:

I am selfish and fickle,

Say whate...

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Michelangelo said the work of art awaited him beneath the slab of marble, merely for him to uncover it. In my own small way I understand that as I write these days. The poem I know is possible waits patiently at the other side across a murky divide and with luck and patience maybe I can reach it, reveal it.

Here is  one I wrote about a barbecue years ago in the small town where I lived.

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We track the oblique, sly fireflies
that keep popping fitfully by.

While life swarms invitingly by the side
we remain rabidly hustling
recklessly trailing
those brusque cracking stars
      ...shifty, deceptive, volatile
in onyx-bronze, raven nights

❋

We: the tenderfoot novice
bulldozed on many a graceless trip
half-cocked, peripheral, stoned
and profoundly ill with pitiful

sh...

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pull out thre trigger u know how it go 

call up lil leek cuz he still got that 4

when I'm down bad I do not got nopbody

release all my problems when I drink this bottle 

still fucking hoes man I just fucked this model 

nobody know about all of my problems 

call up tequila u know she gon solve it 

I wanna stop drinking but I got nobody 

I try to reach out but they always dec...

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Set my heart free of chain
Don't break my heart again
Live your world keep me alone
I regret to be yours at all.

Since we met on that "…." Day 
You're still acting the play 
How to believe yourself today 
since you're hiding your goal. 

God helps guilty to regret
But you decided and insist 
Only to make mistakes a lot 
Now get ready to stop or fall.

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I'm torn with regret
I can't just repent
I look in the mirror and see a face I resent

I dug myself in a hole of lies
All my sins, I'm crucified
Hang me, leave me stuck in time
Kill me, let me meet demise

Suffocating, no more breathing
There's no way to start this healing
Like telling a clepto to stop stealing
Spewing words with no meaning

Help me, drowning, no life support
No get...

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A Shattered Rose

The slick cliff'd river smears shiny

blue-green sliding waters

across richly wooded chateau-lands;

hurrying through honey-scarred falaises,

cat-mouthed where toffee sandstones

arced onto sleeping innocents beneath.

A country blessèd and blighted both,

in equal measure (as aeons bequeath)

full with easy money, and its deadly past.

April ...

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He is sad, he is hurting

No one ever told him he was wrong. 

Spoilt and arrogant, 

He had become. 

Behaviour always accepted. 

A love for himself, 

he always expected perfection, 

Nothing else.

It’s not his fault. He knew something was wrong, 

an angel he searched for, an angel he won. 

Another win, at his feet, treated her with deceit. 

Ignored...

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When it was discovered, we recoiled

Out of doubt, out of fear

We focused on the opinions of others

Instead of what we thought

When I let our secret fly free,

I was shown acceptance and love

Hope blossomed like a cactus flower

It would be okay. 

He was capricious, of two minds

One day yes, the next was no,

He produced a name, but renounced his love

I proce...

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Every heart wants somethings thats harder to get

Like looking for that rainbow in the desert 

Or the dry spot in the rain forest

But no some people are hunters

They prey on your weak emotions while you pray for acceptance

You could stand up for them while they stain your name when your down 

That same stain will be seen around town

Looking for love no im just a corner hoe for ...

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Snow White. 
Nose slimes, chem drips down my throat slice.
Sniffling spit the blow fly.
Cascades of emesis, Sinus bled red . Sniffing flakes of flesh an flem. 
Razor stained, Tickling my neck again,
As I Dance with death.
The phantom stands demands my breath. 
Wrestling the mirrors reflect.
Stare still into the pillars of wreck. 
Spirits turn spirit-less, 
Liquor fill, Spill and drench. 
...

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Facebook is not our friend,
We scroll daily through scans,
Those first delicious pictures of their bundle of joy, once only shared by family;
nowadays published for all to see.
And every time,
left with just one thought, 
"Why is it not me?"

Facebook is not our friend.

Perhaps you have been pregnant, 
Known the feeling,
The weight of carrying the most precious cargo a woman can ever ...

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the forgiving

are also, it seems, 

the confused

we can't quite figure out who to blame

we just know, it can't be ourselves

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You look at me and forget

I was strong before I was pretty 

You disregard my mind in hopes that my heart is a path leading you to my body and briefly

I regret to have met you, you see my eyes before you hear my voice

For you have already forgotten the first rule; I am strong 

So when I love, I love strongly

And when I hurt, I hurt badly 

But when I scream, ...

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Soullessly starring into the air

As her body laid lifeless

All this time the Stifled screams

Shut away to keep them at bay, 

Any chance to show remorse

Shut down and accused of lies. 

If I could tell you one last thing

I love you would be the words to say,

Now I can't see you again

I see the truth that was buried within 

I can't help but blame a part of me

As ...

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I work hard most days
hands all rough by six
ah, but it’s worth every callous
whatever’s needed
and when I’m done, I walk
right down the sea-front promenade
sip on a cup of something
so warm and so sweet
with those boats sailing in and out
in the lazy light of the evening

There forms a shape in the foam on my coffee
I see the outline of your nose and eyes
looking up at me
I wonder j...

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Herringbone

The pallor of the parquet floor
Brings recollections of
School, its classrooms, its corridors

Somehow the pattern pulls
Me into a journey through
Time; conjuring images

Of art and assemblies,
Of laughter and lateness,
Of parents and pupils and plans:

For a future unknown;
For escaping the lessons
And the chill of those changing rooms.

A mishmash of memories,
But...

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What was once a beautiful thing is now empty

I should have taken hold of what we had

But was too young to see beyond myself

What use to be a vivid and deep conversation becomes small talk

Just passing the time

You still know what buttons to push

I just think I do

It’s been years and your fingerprints are still on my heart

The more I try to get away

The harder it becomes ...

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Mare's Tail

(By Paul A M Palmer)

"There's only one way to kill it:
You have to dig it out."

It's what they recommend,
The locals: they have the knowledge.

Scrape and scrape the top, spade against 
The turf and tufts of lichen and moss.

“You have to deepen the trench and then
Scrabble and search for the roots.”

Black and brown in the soily ground
Its fibrous tubes and tendril...

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