How to persevere...

Hold your head high,
support with something white,
feathery, your head will feel lighter,
woolly, almost floaty.

Resist cradling your knees,
as an infant,
keep your chin up,
try a crutch-

Jack or Gin,
may help keep a stiff upper lip,
for a while,
you always wake though

and the air's been sucked out
of your eyes, your head is filled
with rocks, it's hard to hold your head high,
keep your chin up,
when you keep falling over.

2012 © LH

The Hypnotist

Rocked shut,
my harboured dead-eye,
yawns and stretches,
then resists,
I sorely slaved
to pare and carve
the wretched ache,
to make it fit.

You stitch my eyelids
shut, with numbers
and guide me back
into the womb
black lipped, you
prise me like an oyster
and eagerly excavate
my tomb.

2012 © LH

In the eye of the storm

Toes curled under,
those inconsiderate claws,
on tenderhooks,
careful not to fall

O how the ripples seduce me,
royally beckoning,
I dip my toes and so
I succum to the enemy 

Defeat is swift,
It moves through my veins,
rapid rivers, snaking
Into a polluted estuary

I used to have a fear of drowning
when it happens
you inhale lungfuls of tears,
cried by scores of injured egos,

You gasp for air
and lie down in the silt.
I watched you float towards the surface
as I sunk

My words simmered
then they were cast away
now my song is a weak whisper
In a passing cloud,

It is a jet stream meandering east
far far above our heads.
Memories come in the wake,
lapping at my unconscious mind,
Repeatedly.

As I slipped into the water
my eyes were leaking,
and a bell was unrung...

It's only when I reached the bottom
that I could clearly see ;
you are only a dead fish floating
on the top,

A dull flat note,
a black oil slick.
The seagulls will pick through
your anemic bones.

2012 © LH

On Prescription Only

For two days my stomach
Tumbled, over and over again,
So I stayed indoors, and watched
"The Walking Dead"
Reanimated, halfway between
Life and death,
My temples throbbed, and,
When the sleeplessness abated,
Fidgeting and nausea
Wormed its' way in.

You said I had cartoonish eyes,
Did you mean I looked
Two dimensional, like
A piece of art?
The Mona Lisa perhaps?
Without a doubt, there was a smile,
If you looked long enough,
At the right angle,
In the correct light,
Rising from the dead.

2012 © LH

The moon in my teacup.

Gazing up at me,
The moon, in my teacup,
Drowning in front of my eyes,
One tip and it becomes a crescent,
Then, a whole moon again,
Trembling as my lips hover above,
The great creator!
Left, trapped in a weathered hide,
Clinging to the sides,
Stale, pale, milky moon,
Now long forgotten
In my teacup.



2012 © LH

Walking Away

My feet roam the ribbon road,
As laden as my heart, of lead
Horses on the carousel, go around
And around inside my head
Mulish crows with malevolent eyes
Indifferent to my agitation,
Extend their wings, they kaw
And show me no consideration.

2012 © LH

Lamenting your departure,
The cherry blossom
Distracts me briefly.

2012 © LH

Atrophy

The sunflower
Died a slow death
Gasping for breath
It's throat slit

Yellow blades
Rusted, pointless
Powerless to pierce the
Blistered black heart 

Pursuing the brightest star
From west to east
East to west
Craving to bask in its warmth

A Lavendar sky
Bleeds ruby red
A blazing fire, smothered
The frantic crows scatter
Like windblown ashes

The candle extinguished
It is noticeable, how
The curl of gloom
Tastes of vanilla
 
Forsaken once more
As the first snowflake falls
From the starless vault
No rhyme nor reason

A delicate white fleck
So vulnerable
It diminishes at any token
Of warmth.

2012 © LH

Flashback In Traffic

I drove through a red light,
Like shrapnel slicing flesh
It happened so fast
I didn't notice until the driver
In the other car, the one in my path,
Swerved and mouthed,
Moron, or something,
I won't pretend I can lip read
I saw her pupils dilate, glassy,
Mouth, trembling, catching flies
In the desert, with her red cloak,
Leaving behind a trail,
As I sailed towards her,
In silence, dreamy,
Then, bam, bam
The gunfire,
Horns, blaring
Then she was just a memory
In my rear view mirror,
There is violence in Syria
I caught the end of the news
I was someplace else,
Trying to figure out how to tell you,
That I can't cope with
Reliving the suffering over
And over again,
Then all of a sudden
I almost didn't have to.

2012 © LH

Curfew

You beat me frantically,
And I was a mute for three days,
My screams woke latent birds,

Like black bats, scowling,
At my pitiful face.

I disturbed the sleep of earth worms,
And neighbours,
Bothering the mellow moon

I appeared as suddenly as
The freckles that bridged my nose
That summer.

Later, caked with my own recipe,
Of salt and slime.

As suddenly as my unripe breasts,
Beneath my Frankie says Relax
T-shirt

You just kept beating,
Three days of silence,
In the bath

With my colour changing toy
My buttocks,

Red, blue, purple
Brown, green, yellow,
I hated you

You cherished me, it terrified you,
Both of us terrified, of each other,
That boy! That boy!

We were just holding hands,
On Kirby's lane and listening,
To the crickets sing, Daddy. 

2012 © LH